


Ghost of You

by HeartDeNies



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: M/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 09:46:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 34,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartDeNies/pseuds/HeartDeNies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot had become clear. He hadn't dreamed up this amazing man and he wasn't losing his mind. John did exist, to what extent Punk didn't know, but he did know that his apartment wasn't haunted by a ghost who wanted to harm him. Slash</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own absolutely nothing when it comes to the WWE.

Philip "Punk" Brooks was finishing his last client of the day and for that he was glad. He loved being a tattoo artist, but the constant hunched sitting over an eight hour day was taxing to his body. His neck and shoulders had been throbbing in pain for the last hour as he finished the last bit of shading on his client's tattoo.

"Okay, I'm all done. Go ahead and take a look at it in the mirror." Punk straightened his back and placed his equipment back on the counter beside him. He tiredly watched as his topless female client admired her new tattoo in the mirror. He was proud of the job he had done on it and he loved the reason why his client was getting the tattoo done. She was a 27 year old who had just lost her high school sweetheart husband. He had been a musician and he wrote a song just for her. The tattoo she had wanted was a piece of sheet music with his song on it all the way down her back.

Punk watched as Sarah, his client, start to cry. Worried that she didn't like the tattoo, Punk asked, "Is something wrong? Do you not like it?"

"Oh, no! I love it so much! Thank you so much. This doesn't bring Kevin back into my arms, but it gives me a connection to him." Punk was shocked when Sarah quickly crossed the room and enveloped him in a hug. Punk felt very awkward about Sarah hugging him while she was topless, but he didn't want to push her away when she was so upset.

Sarah pulled away and grabbed her shirt. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but I'm so full of emotion right now, I feel like I'm going to burst. I'm just going to go. I'll see you." With that she walked out of Punk's tattooing area.

"Come back if you want more done." Punk yelled after her and sighed when he heard the shop's front door close. He could only imagine what she was going through because he had never been in love. Punk had always known that he was gay and he had dated in the past but none of the relationships turned serious. He would be lying if he said he wasn't lonely.

His life was just a routine that he completed every day. He got up, came to the shop to open up, then worked on drawing out tattoos for clients until noon and then clients would start coming in for tattoos or piercings. He would work until six or later if he was working on a large tattoo and then he would go home, have dinner and then start the whole thing over the next day.

Punk was hoping that something would change soon. He was looking for a new apartment in Chicago, but hadn't found anything that he loved just yet.

Punk heard the phone ringing at the front of the shop and he reluctantly got up to go answer it. His bones creaked in his neck and he rolled his shoulders to crack them.

He reached the phone by the fourth ring. "Chicago Made Tattoo."

"Hi, is Mr. Brooks there?"

"You're specking with him and it's Punk not Mr. Brooks," Punk rolled his eyes. The person hadn't even identified themselves yet, but he knew it was his uptight realtor

"Uh, well yes. This is Kathy Swanson; I was just calling to ask you if you had time tonight to look at another apartment. The price has just been lowered and I'm afraid that someone will snatch it up if we don't look at it tonight,"

Punk groaned in his mind. He was so tired and just wanted to home and take a hot shower, but he knew how cut throat the apartment market was in Chicago. He sighed. "Okay, give me the address and I'll head over."

"Thank you, Mr. Punk. I just know that you will love this one!" She quickly rattled off the information for the apartment and Punk hung up.

Punk flung back his head and sighed heavily again. He hoped against hope that this would be the apartment that he would be able to call his own. He was tired of renting and he had been searching for an apartment that he liked for months. The ones that he had liked had about a million contracts already on them and he didn't even try throw his in the mix.

Punk quickly closed the shop and walked down the street while throwing on his leather jacket over his plain V-neck black t-shirt. When he reached his car, he put his stuff in the car and drove off toward the apartment.

Kathy was waiting for him anxiously as he pulled up to the curb. Punk got out of his car and walked over to her.

"We'll have to wait a few minutes. There's a couple looking at the apartment now, but they'll be out in a few minutes," Kathy hardly had time to finish her sentence as the mentioned couple came bolting down the stairs like the hounds of hell were after them. The woman shot right past Punk, but the man stopped just long enough to say, "Man, don't go in there! There's some crazy shit going on in that apartment!" and then he ran after his girlfriend/fiancé/wife.

"Well Kathy, it sounds right up my alley already!" Punk joked as he walked up the stairs. He didn't notice that Kathy had not followed him until he was standing at the apartment building's front door. "Ah, come on! They didn't scare you did they? It's an old building. They probably heard the building settle and got spooked like a pair of pussies." Punk beckoned for Kathy to join him on the top of the stairs. She reluctantly did so.

The apartment was on the second floor, so Punk and Kathy had to climb another flight of stairs after entering the apartment building but Punk didn't mind. The door to the apartment was ordinary and there was another door directly across from it.

"This building only has two apartments per floor, so you'll only have one neighbor." Kathy told Punk anticipating his question. She took out the key to the apartment and then proceeded to open the door.

For Punk, the first sight of the apartment was love. The door opened into a large living area. The wall opposite the door was made entirely of red brick and it had a large fireplace in the middle of it. Punk was already envisioning his large flat screen hanging above it. It was a large living room and it had a half bathroom off of it.

The kitchen was off the living area. They were separated by a bar complete with black bar chairs. The kitchen had black cabinets, stainless steel appliances and white granite counter tops that had veins of black running through the white. It was nicely sized with an island.

A black door between the kitchen and the living area opened to reveal the apartment's only bedroom. It was large, painted white and had black doors that opened to reveal a large walk-in closet and the master bathroom. The bathroom carried the kitchen's theme with black cabinetry and the white and black granite countertops and flooring. It had his and her sinks, a steam shower, and a large Jacuzzi bathtub.

Punk walked back into the living room, looking at the beautiful black stained wood floors as he went. He loved this apartment. It screamed his style and it also felt like a home to him. It was like being in this apartment was filling some of the void that he had been feeling for a long time. He didn't understand it, but he didn't really want to.

Looking up to see a nervous looking Kathy, Punk smiled and said, "I want it. How soon can I put an offer on it?"

Kathy looked flabbergasted. "You don't even want to know the price?" She proceeded to tell how much it was and Punk's eyes widened in surprise.

"Why is it so cheap? This is an awesome apartment?"

"From what I have heard, they can't keep people in the apartment long enough for them to see the whole thing. Something always happens that makes the potential buyers run out the door like they've seen a ghost."

"Oh well, their loss, my gain. Can you write up my offer tonight and give it to the owner by tomorrow. I want to move into this place as soon as possible." Punk grinned as he took one last look around the apartment. Kathy pushed him out the door and shut it firmly behind her.

"Yes, I can do that. I'll call you tomorrow after I give them your offer."

"Thank you. I'll talk to you tomorrow then." With that Punk walked back to his car and got in.

Life was finally looking up for Punk. A new apartment would change everything. Who knows, maybe his neighbor will be a super-hot gay guy who has a thing for tattoos. Punk went home and relaxed, but he didn't sleep much that night because he could only think about how great his new apartment was going to be.

The entire next day, Punk was jittery with anticipation for Kathy's call. He wanted to be the first person to put a contract on the house and Kathy would tell him how his odds were for getting the apartment.

He was working on tattooing a pin-up girl onto a guy's bicep when his phone rang. Usually he let calls go to voicemail when he was working with a client, but he thought that it could be Kathy.

"Chicago Made Tattoo." He answered the phone hopefully.

"Mr. Punk, you are not going to believe this! They accepted your offer and they want to close tomorrow. They don't even want a down payment! Can you do noon tomorrow?"

Punk's mouth hung open and he was speechless for the first night in his life. "Uh, yea! I can do noon. I'll just close the shop for an hour or so."

"Great! I'll see you at my office at noon then. Bye!"

Punk hung up the phone and stared in shock. "Did that really just happen?" Punk smiled to himself in happiness as he walked back to his tattoo area. "Unbelievable!"

The next day, Punk was counting the minutes until he could close on his new apartment. He had called his friend, Colt Cabana, to ask him to help him move in this weekend. He had whined a little, but eventually gave in when Punk reminded him how many times he had helped Cabana move in the past.

By the end of the day, Punk had the keys to his new apartment in hand and he went home to pack. He didn't have much left to pack because he had thrown away everything he didn't want to move to his new apartment when he first started looking at apartments.

Colt came over to Punk's early Saturday morning with a rented moving truck. Between the two of them, they had Punk's stuff on the truck in two hours and then drove to Punk's new apartment.

The stairs made it hard to get Punk's couch into the apartment, but they managed. Nothing else gave them that much trouble and by mid-afternoon, all Punk's belonging were in his new apartment and Colt left. Unpacking was a whole other story and Punk had to do it by himself.

Punk was in the kitchen putting away his dishes, when he heard a knock on the front door. He wondered who it could be. When he opened the door, his visitor was revealed to be a curvy, young woman.

"Hi! I'm Erin, your neighbor from across the hallway. I thought I would stop by and drop off some cookies and introduce myself." Erin stuck her hand out for Punk to shake.

Punk was a little disappointed that his neighbor wasn't the hot, gay man who had a thing for tattoos that he was hoping for, but Erin seemed nice. "It's nice to meet you! It's Phil, by the way, but I prefer Punk." Punk shook her hand. "Come on in and I'll show you around. Don't mind the mess. I'm in the process of unpacking everything." Punk moved aside so Erin could enter.

"Would you like some help unpacking? I swear unpacking takes longer than moving does." Erin said as she sat the plate of cookies she had brought with her on the counter.

"I would appreciate that very much if it's no trouble." Punk usually would have rolled his eyes and shoved her out the door, but there was something about her that intrigued him.

"No trouble at all! Just show me where to start." Erin smiled brightly.

Punk and Erin worked hard into the evening and Punk learned that he was right in liking Erin at first. She had a similar sense of humor to his and she was sarcastic, but at the same time, she was a very nice and genuine person.

She was young, only 22 and just out of college. She worked at Genesis Clinical Laboratory as in the Hematology department. She hadn't been working there long, but she loved it already. Punk was amazed at how much she talked. He studied her as they moved his couch into a better position in the living room. She was a little on the short side and was shaped like an hour glass. Her hair was long, down to her waist in loose brown curls, and she kept it out of her way by occasionally dragging her hand through the hair on the top of her head to move it.

She wore jean capris and a plain bright pink scope neck t-shirt. What he loved the best about her outfit were her shoes. She had pink low top Chuck Taylors on. Punk mentally shook his head. He knew she wasn't from around Chicago if she was wearing Chucks. For some reason unknown to him, the gang members of Chicago switched their shoe of choice to Chucks a few years ago. Punk had no doubt in his mind that Erin was not gang member.

He thought about telling her about the reputation of Chucks in Chicago, but decided that she should learn on her own. Part of him wanted to hear about the learning experience later.

After they finished unpacking most of Punk's stuff, he made coffee and he and Erin sat down on his couch to talk more.

"So, were you here when the previous owner was here?" Punk was curious who would give up this awesome apartment.

Erin, who had been blowing on her coffee to cool it, stopped to laugh. "Which one? I've been here for about 4 mouths and two other people have lived here. I hope you stay longer because I like you. Those other people were… uptight I'll say. Or maybe stressed would be a better word. I don't understand why they didn't stay. These apartments are great, but I've heard some rumors"

"What are the rumors?" Punk asked before taking another sip of his coffee.

"Well, I've only caught bits and pieces, but I guess a few years ago, a whovguy lived here by himself pissed off some mob boss or something. The mob boss got the voodoo witch doctor that was on his payroll to curse the guy. A week later, the gym he worked at reported him missing. Nobody has seen him since. People think the apartment is haunted, but I've never heard anything to support that theory."

Living in a potentially haunted apartment didn't bother Punk very much. He had grown up in a haunted house, but it never really scared him. Sure, it pissed him off when his comics went missing and then would turn up hours later, but he was never afraid. He honestly didn't believe his apartment was haunted. It didn't have the vibe of being haunted. "So, what was the guy's name? Do you know?"

"Umm, I think his last name was Cena, but I'm not for sure. Oh my Gosh! Is it really ten? I told my sister I'd call her a half an hour ago. I gotta go. It was nice meeting you! Feel free to stop by anytime." Erin was off the couch and out of the apartment before Punk could blink.

He shook his head and laughed to himself. Erin reminded him of one of his sisters, but she was more fun to be around than his sister.

Punk decided he was tired and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. While he was brushing his teeth, he caught an unfamiliar scent. It smelled masculine like cologne mixed with the scent of …man? Punk couldn't really describe it, but he liked the scent a lot. Punk rinsed his mouth and inhaled deeply.

He tried to find the source but it was like the source was moving and as soon as he thought he was getting close to it, the scent would weaken.

Deciding he was being silly, Punk went back into his bedroom and turned off the light. He climbed into his bed which was covered with a deep red bedspread and black satin sheets. He turned on his bed side lamp and started reading one of his comic books.

He read until he couldn't keep his eyes open and then he closed his comic book and turned off the light. He snuggled into his pillow and feel into a deep sleep.

That's when things he couldn't explain began to happen


	2. Chapter 2

Punk is a very light sleeper, so it's no surprise that he woke up to the strange noises coming from the direction of the kitchen. Still half asleep, Punk looked over at his alarm clock that rested on his bedside table. It was 1:00 am.

Punk sat up in his bed, leaned back against his headboard and listened to the noises for a while. To him, the noises sounded like footsteps walking on hardwood flooring. He listened as the footsteps stopped and then he heard a rustling noise.

His heart was racing in his chest. Was someone in his apartment? This was his first night here, so maybe a homeless person had been using the vacant apartment to take shelter from the elements at night.

Carefully as not to make any sound, Punk eased himself out of bed and crept over to his closet. He cringed when his closet door made a small squeak when he opened it. Reaching into the small opening of the closet, Punk grasp the baseball bat that had been resting against the wall next to the closet door.

With bat in hand, Punk stopped and listened to what was going on in the kitchen again. The footsteps were moving, but they stopped and then he heard sounds that he couldn't identify.

Gathering his courage, Punk charged into his living room with bat raised high to bludgeon the intruder. He switched on the overhead light in the kitchen as he charged out of his room so he could see the intruder.

Punk was dumbfounded when he saw that no one was in sight. Cautiously, Punk observed his surroundings. The bar chairs were sitting on the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. The living room looked untouched, so Punk ventured into the kitchen. The only thing that he noticed that was out of the ordinary other than the chairs was that the foil on the plate of cookies Erin had brought him had been lifted.

It looked like half of his cookies had been eaten. This was proof that someone had been or was in his apartment. Punk quickly did a search of all the possible hiding places in the apartment. He looked in the bathroom that was off the living room and then went back into his room to check under his bed and his closet.

While Punk was relieved that the intruder hadn't been hiding under his bed the whole time, he now knew for sure that they were in his bathroom.

Surreptitiously, Punk walked toward his bathroom door and then quickly opened it and turned on the light with his bat raised.

Nothing. No one was in the bathroom. In disbelief but relief, Punk looked in all the possible hiding places in his bathroom, but still found nothing. Walking out of his bathroom, Punk turned off the light and continued to the living room.

He moved the bar chairs off the counter and back onto the floor and then he moved the foil back in place on his cookies so they wouldn't get stale.

Punk moved back toward his bedroom door and took one last look around the living room and kitchen area before turning off the overhead light. He walked through the darkness of his bedroom back to his bed, but didn't put his bat back in the closet.

He was still shaken from his ordeal and his heart rate was just slowing to normal. "What in the hell was that?" Punk asked himself. He laid down on his bed and turned onto his side, clutching his bat to his chest.

A million explanations traveled through his mind. He could explain the footsteps by saying that the building has old piping underneath the flooring which could potentially make the floor make footstep like sounds. The bar chairs and missing cookies were not as easily explained away, however.

Punk convinced himself that he had moved the chairs onto the counter and eaten the cookies before he went to bed, he just didn't recall doing it.

Feeling a little disgusted with himself for getting scared so easily, Punk tried going back to sleep. Eventually he did, but he never eased his grip on the baseball bat.

Punk slept for a few more hours until he was woken by the footsteps again, but alarmingly, they were in his room this time. Too terrified to move, Punk laid and listened to footsteps move closer and closer to his bed. He was laying on his side with his back to the direction the footsteps were coming from so he couldn't see how close they were.

A Cold sweat broke out all over Punk's body as he laid and waited in fear. Every muscle in his body was tensed for the inevitable attack.

The footsteps came closer and closer to Punk's bed until he was sure that the intruder was right next to his bed and then the footsteps stopped. Punk tried to keep his breathing deep and regular, so the intruder would think he was asleep.

When the intruder's cold hand caressed Punk's shoulder, Punk turned over and swung his bat like a rubber band snapping. His bat met air and then Punk was on his feet and had his beside lamp on in nanoseconds.

Punk's eyes were wild with fear as he searched around the room for the intruder, but again, nothing.

He swallowed hard and turned around to check under his bed again, but there was nothing under it. Punk was walking toward his closet when the radio in his bathroom started playing at full volume, making Punk jump a mile into the air and scream.

I have died every day waiting for you

Darling don't be afraid…

Punk ran into his bathroom to turn of the radio. After the noise that scared him half to death was stopped, Punk looked around his bathroom. His chest was heaving with his harsh breaths as he looked around, but again, there was nothing in here.

Punk took a large inhale through his nose and then he exhaled with a harsh moan to try and calm himself. That's when it registered that that strange, alluring scent was back. Punk walked back through his whole apartment and the scent was all over it.

Walking back into his bedroom, Punk tried to make sense to the events that kept occurring that night. He couldn't explain that cold touch no matter how hard he tried to find an explanation. Punk sat down on the edge of his bed and grasped handfuls of his pajama pants and hunched over.

'So maybe the apartment is haunted, but I've been in this situation before, I just have to get use to this again,' Punk tried to reassure himself. 'I'm not moving out of this apartment. It's mine now and the bastard ghost is just going to have to understand that.'

Punk laid down on his bad on his back. He turned on his bedside lamp and left it on for the rest of the night.

*Dream*

Punk was doing what he loved to do the most: running. He was running in his favorite park in Chicago. It was still early in the morning, so he was left to his own thoughts. He focused on his breathing and keeping his pace. This was heaven to him. Being by himself, enjoying the physical excursion without people watching him or bothering him.

Suddenly, Punk heard footfalls coming up behind him. He rolled his eyes and kissed his solitude goodbye. It was probably some chick coming to flirt with him. 'You're barking up the wrong tree, sister.'

Punk looked back when the footfalls were directly behind him. The sight that greeted him was the epitome of sin. Glistening, hard, rippling muscle tensing and relaxing with each stride, a smile that could melt your heart, adorable dimples, and piercing eyes the color of the ocean bore into Punk.

"Hi, you mind if I run with you for a bit?" Sex on legs just spoke.

"Ummm, uh, yea! Sure you can! I don't mind." Punk stumbled over his words like he hadn't spoken a word in years. He cursed at himself under his breath.

The sexy man flashed his blinding, dimpled smile at Punk again. "Thanks!"

The men ran in silence for a few minutes. Punk stole glances out of the corner of his eye every so often. He couldn't help himself. He had never seen a man as handsome and sexy as this one.

Punk was startled when the man broke the silence. "I'm John, by the way. What's your name?"

"Oh, yea sorry. It's Phil, but everyone calls me Punk." He felt his face heat up in a flush. He hoped that John would assume it was from the exercise.

"Really, that's an interesting nickname. Is there a reason for that?" John looked over at Punk.

Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, Punk felt his stomach flip around in his abdomen. "Um, no. I've been called Punk for as long as I remember."

"I guess that makes sense. You don't look like a Phil. Well, it was nice running with you. I'll see you later." John face started getting darker and then everything went dark.

*Reality*

Punk woke up to the sound of his alarm clock going off. He turned over and slapped the snooze button. Groaning, Punk turned back over on his back to get a few more minutes of sleep and was hoping for a few more minutes of that dream with that John guy in it. It wasn't even an overtly sexual dream but Punk was so aroused.

Punk stared at the ceiling for a few minutes deciding what to do. He moved his hand down his chest toward his groin. That's when he noticed that his pajama pants were gone. This startled him so much that he jumped out of bed. Punk distinctly remembered having his pajama pants on before he fell asleep after the last episode of weird events last night.

Tearing apart his bed in search of his pajama pants, Punk didn't find them in his bed or anywhere around it or under it. His previous state of arousal was completely forgotten as a very unsettled feeling took over Punk.

He wasn't a person that took off his clothes in his sleep and he hadn't taken them off before he fell asleep that last time.

"What in the hell is going on." Punk banged his fist against his forehead and then shook his head. "I'm losing my damn mind."

Deciding he might as well take a shower now, since he was already naked, Punk walked into his bathroom and turned on his shower and then waited on the water to warm up. He stepped into the shower when the water was warm enough.

Punk had washed his hair and was working on washing his body when he sensed that he was being watched. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and the hand that had been soaping up his chest stopped abruptly.

The bathroom and shower were both full of steam, but Punk would have been able to see if someone was in the bathroom with him if there had been. Punk couldn't explain why he felt like he was being watched. The bathroom didn't have any windows and the bathroom door was shut. If anyone was watching him, he should have been able to see them.

Still feeling a little unnerved, Punk continued washing himself. When Punk bent over to wash his lower legs and feet, he was slammed with a strong wave of arousal. He had never felt anything like it and he didn't understand it. It was like the arousal wasn't his own. He couldn't resist it though, because it was so strong and he began to jerk himself off.

Punk stepped back underneath the shower head and braced one of his hands against the shower wall as the other pumped him.

"Oh God! Yes!" Punk moaned as he felt himself nearing the edge. He released into his hand moments later.

Watching his come circle the shower drain, Punk ran over what had just happened to him in his head. 'That was beyond weird!' he thought to himself. Punk tried to rationalize the situation by bring up that he hadn't had sex in a long time, so maybe his body just had had enough. 'Isn't that what wet dreams are for. I've never heard of your body making you jerk yourself off without warning. Dear God!'

Punk turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He smelled that scent again. He was beginning to wonder if someone had dropped a bottle of cologne into the duct work of the apartment building, but he couldn't be for sure.

After brushing his teeth and forgoing shaving, again, Punk walked back into his bedroom to get dressed. He put on boxer-briefs, dark wash jeans, and a white undershirt. All the while, he kept a look out for his pajama pants. Those were his favorite pair of pajama pants because they had the Batman logo all over them and he would be very upset if he had lost them.

Punk left his bedroom and went into the living room and turned on his TV to watch some news. He looked around to see if anything else had been moved after he fell asleep last night, but it all looked in order.

He shook his head while making his way into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. He didn't have many choices because he didn't go to the grocery yesterday like he should have. He had been too busy unpacking with Erin to remember that he needed food.

Deciding a bowl of cereal without milk was his best option, Punk took his bowl of cereal back to the living room to watch the news.

Nothing was interesting as usual. Just depressing news about the house fires that had broken out last night and how many people had been killed by drunk drivers on their way home from the bar.

When he had had enough news, Punk changed the channel to watch some Sunday morning cartoons but there wasn't much to offer, so Punk settled on Mythbusters on the Discovery channel. It was an episode he had already seen, so Punk's mind began to wonder.

He had to tell someone about what happened last night, but he didn't know who he wanted to tell. His family would laugh at him even though they lived in the same haunted house he did when he was growing and Colt and his other friends would tease him mercilessly for believing in ghosts.

Then he thought about Erin. She had hinted that she believed in ghosts while they were talking yesterday and if she blew him off about it, he wouldn't be that upset because he hadn't invested much in their blossoming friendship yet.

He decided that he would go over and talk to her later today and see what she had to say. First though, he had to do something about his food situation.

Turning off the TV, Punk grabbed his coat that had been draped over the back of the couch. Searching in his pocket, Punk fished out his keys and went back into his bedroom to grab his wallet off the bedside table.

Punk walked out of his apartment and then locked his door and headed out to get his car. While walking to his car, Punk put on his coat and got of whiff of that scent that he kept smelling in his apartment. He got in his car and put his keys in the ignition, but didn't turn the car on.

Sniffing different places on his coat, Punk found the source of the scent to be the collar of the coat. Even directly sniffing the source of the smell, he couldn't place what the scent was. It wasn't a cologne that Punk had ever used.

Letting go of the collar of his coat, Punk shook his head and started his car. "Weird" he said to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Punk walked up the stairs to his apartment building with a defeated look on his face. Who knew that going to the grocery store on a Sunday morning would be such an ordeal. Punk swore there must have been five screaming babies running around the store like a bunch of hellions. They didn't stop the entire time he was shopping and Punk felt like his ears were bleeding.

The icing on the cake was that the check-out lines were each six people deep and the self-checkout even had a line. The best the thing about the trip was watching some toothless white trash woman get thrown out of the store for getting nasty with the cashier at the U-scan. Punk thought he had jumped into an episode of Jerry Springer at that point.

With some difficulty, Punk unlocked and opened his front door and then closed it behind him with his foot. He walked slowly into the kitchen and then placed his groceries on the counter and then sat down in one of the bar chairs to recover from his shopping trip.

He was so tired! The recipe of hardly getting any restful sleep the night before and the shopping trip from hell made him feel like he could fall asleep on his feet.

Digging deep within himself to find the energy to put away his purchases, Punk got up from his seat and quickly stowed away his groceries. Punk pulled out his coffee maker and started a pot, hoping the coffee would get him through the rest of the day.

With cup of coffee in hand, Punk went into his bedroom to retrieve his comic book that he had been reading the night before. He was shocked when he found that his bed was made.

Punk didn't recall making it this morning, but then he thought that maybe he had just forgotten. Shrugging his shoulders, Punk grabbed his comic book and then went back into his living room, sipping his coffee along the way

Punk sat his coffee cup on the end table beside his couch and then sat down with a sigh. After lying down, he opened his comic book and then began to read.

He read for about an hour until he could barely keep his eyes open. The coffee hadn't helped as much as he hoped it would. Punk decided that a nap wasn't a bad idea and he laid his open comic book down beside the couch. After getting into a more comfortable position, Punk fell asleep.

*Dream*

Punk was sitting beside the small pond that was in the center of his favorite park to run in. It was warm and sunny and he was enjoying the sun on his face and chest. He had just finished an awesome run and he was resting beside the pond. He sweat from his run was slowly evaporating from his skin and the cooling effect sent shivers down his spine.

Punk took a sip of water from his bottle and watched the ducks swim around on the pond. He laughed to himself when one of the ducks bit another in tail feathers.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the fresh air. His eyes opened abruptly when he smelled the scent that he had been smelling in his apartment.

"Hi Punk! Enjoying the nice weather today?" Startled, Punk looked up and to his right and saw John, the man he had met in the park before.

Watching John sit down beside him on the ground, Punk replied, "Um, yea. This is some pretty awesome weather." He felt like a total dope as soon as the words left his mouth.

Punk took in the sight beside him. John was only wearing a loose pair of basketball shorts so his glistening chest was in full view for Punk's eyes to feast on. Yea, he was enjoying the view alright.

"So, you come here often?" Punk looked up into John's eyes and knew he had been caught red handed checking him out.

Embarrassed, Punk said, "Yea, I usually go for a run here before heading into work. You?"

"Not really, but I've discovered some great sights here this week, so it's quickly becoming my favorite place to run." John grinned at Punk flirtatiously and looked him up and down. Punk had often been called oblivious when it came to men, but there was no doubt in Punk's mind just what the great sights were that John was talking about. He knew John was talking about him.

Suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, Punk grabbed his shirt that had been lying next to him and threw it on over his head. Deciding to play dumb out of embarrassment, Punk said, "Oh, yea! The cherry trees are great when they are in bloom!" He ran his fingers through his hair nervously.

John leaned over and whispered in Punk's ear, "I wasn't talking about the cherry trees" and then moved back to his previous position.

Punk was overwhelmed by John's scent, which smelled very similar to the scent in his apartment, but his was too discombobulated to make the connection. Punk was about to reply when he heard a knocking noise. Confused, Punk cocked his head and listened. That's when he woke up.

*Reality*

Punk lay on the couch and thought about his dream, but he was quickly interrupted by another knock on the door. Punk stood up and started to make his way to his front door. Only to fall flat on his face. Thoroughly confused as to why he had face planted on the floor, Punk looked down at his feet and saw that his jeans were unbuttoned, unzipped and currently residing around his ankles. His jeans were loose, so when his stood up, his undone pants must have fallen around his ankles, making him fall.

'Why in the hell were my pants unzipped and unbuttoned? What in the hell is going on' Punk was interrupted from his thoughts by another knock on the door. He picked himself off the floor and fixed his jeans before making his way to the door.

Upon opening the door, he discovered that it was Erin who was knocking. "Hi! I just wanted to stop by to see if you were okay. I heard some weird noises coming from your apartment last night." Erin genuinely looked concerned.

Relieved that Erin had brought up the issue first, Punk grabbed Erin's wrist and pulled her into his apartment. He sat her down on the couch and looked into her confused green eyes. "I'm glad you've brought it up. I'm not crazy, I swear! Some unexplainable shit happened to me last night."

Punk relayed everything that had happened to him the night before to Erin, leaving out the little detail that he had woken up naked this morning, and she listened intently.

After Punk finished his narrative of his experiences last night, Erin sat in silence for a few minutes. "Well, it sure sounds like you have a ghost problem. What are you going to do about it?"

Punk thought for a few seconds. "I think the best thing to do is just ignore it for a while and see if it stops."

"That sounds like a good idea, but please don't even think about using an Ouija board because those things are bad news." Erin looked into Punk's eyes with a very serious look on her face.

"What's wrong with Ouija broads?" Punk was curious

"They open portals to hell and let demons through. They don't actually let you speck to the dead, only demons, and malevolent demons at that. If you destroy an Ouija board after using it, the portal is permanently open and anything can get through to our world."

Punk was thoroughly convinced at this point and a little freaked out. "I promise I won't use one."

"Okay, because I would be really ticked off if you let a bunch of demons in our apartment building!" Erin threw her head back and laughed. She looked down at her watch and her eyes widened. "Have we really been talking that long? It's almost five already!"

Punk was surprised, too, but then his stomach rumbled in hunger. He hadn't eaten since earlier that morning. He grabbed his stomach and laughed. "I didn't realize it was that late, but my stomach is telling me it is. You want to go and get something to eat?"

"Yea, sure. You choose where to go, though, because I haven't been here long enough to know where all the good places are."

Punk knew just the place to go. He drove to this burger place that named all their burgers after rock bands. It was a great place.

They were just finishing their appetizer when a handsome guy with two sleeve tattoos walked into the restaurant and set down at the bar. Punk zeroed in on him immediately.

He had short, dark hair, bluish, gray eyes, a square jaw and luscious, plump lips. He was tall, probably well over six feet, and was muscular. He caught Punk checking him out and smiled at him flirtatiously. Punk immediately looked away.

"Oh! That guy's attractive! He totally just gave you the look!" Erin said excitedly to Punk.

"What's 'the look'" Punk laughed nervously.

"You know! It's the look that a guy gives you when he wants you. It's kind of like his warning to you that he's going to do all he can to get you." Erin slapped Punk teasingly on the shoulder. Erin looked over at the bar. "He's checking you our right now!"

Punk had to find all the self-restraint inside himself to keep from looking over to see if the handsome guy really was checking him out. "Oh come on! There's no such thing as 'the look'!"

"No, I swear! The first time I met my boyfriend, he gave me the same look and he stopped at nothing until I agreed to go out with him. He was quite determined!"

Seeing this bit of information from Erin as a way to distract her from teasing him about the man at the bar, Punk pushed for more information about this boyfriend. "So, who is this boyfriend?" Punk smirked at his own genius.

Oh! He's so great! His name is Mason Ryan and he's a doctor in Chicago. He's so tall and handsome and awesome." Erin sighed with a smile on her face. Punk could tell that she really liked him, maybe even loved him and he was now genuinely interested in hearing about Mason. The guy at the bar had been completely forgotten.

"How did you two meet?" Punk took a sip from is glass of Pepsi.

"It's funny actually. I had just started working at Genesis and one day he walked in to drop off some blood work from his office. I guess the phlebotomist that works in his office had to leave early that day and didn't have time to drop the blood work off herself, so he did it. I was working on calibrating one of the machines when I heard this amazingly sexy voice from out of nowhere. I really don't even remember what he said and I turned around and there he was, looking all sexy giving me the look." Erin had a dreamy look in her eye.

"Wow, so you met him in a chance encounter?" Punk leaned closer in interest.

"Yea. I had the philosophy that attractive men should only be looked at and never trusted, so when he started flirting with me and asked for my number, I shut him down pretty harshly." Erin laughed. "After that day, he dropped the blood work off from his office every day and pestered me until I was so fed up with him; I gave in and agreed to go out with him. He swept me off my feet on the first date!" Erin smiled and shook her head.

"Wow! That's pretty crazy! How long have you been going out now?"

Erin laughed again. "Not long, only about two weeks, but I'm completely smitten. He's so nice and respectful! A real mother's dream!"

Punk's eye brows rose in surprise. "Haven't you been working at Genesis for over four months? He must have been very determined and stubborn if he didn't give up after all that time. And you must be stubborn too if you didn't give in until recently!"

Erin grinned at Punk's comment. "I'm very stubborn! It's the Irish blood flowing through my veins and Mason is even more stubborn than I am. He's from Wales, which explains a lot."

Before Punk could say anything in reply, the handsome man form earlier approached their table.

He had a confident smirk on his face and he walk was more of a strut. "Hi, I couldn't help noticing your tattoos from the bar. I've been thinking about getting some more work done myself. Where did you get yours done? The name's Randy by the way, Randy Orton."

Randy, as he had introduced himself, had a voice that could melt chocolate and Punk took a minute to bask in its timbre before replying. "Most of them I did myself, but the one's I couldn't reach easily were done by a friend."

"Really? So do you own a shop where I could stop by and see you sometime?" Randy smiled again, laying on the charm thick.

"Um, yea. It's Chicago Made Tattoo. Here I'll write down the address for you." Punk usually had a pen in his pocket and he took it out and wrote the address down on a napkin. Punk's face was hot from a flush that reached all the way to his chest.

"Thanks. I'll be stopping by to see you real soon." Randy smirked again and then turned around and exited the restaurant.

Punk looked over at Erin to ask if that had really just happened when he noticed a satisfied smirk on her face. "See! Didn't I tell you he gave you the look? I bet you see him sometime tomorrow you lucky duck you."

Punk smiled and took another sip of his Pepsi. "Please, luck is for losers. We'll just have to see what happens."

Punk and Erin finished dinner and then they headed back to the apartment building. Erin excused herself from Punk's company when they reached their floor, saying she promised Mason that she would call him tonight.

Punk unlocked his apartment door and walked in. For once, nothing had been moved. He hoped that was a sign that things were calming down. Punk walked over to his couch and noticed his comic book still on the floor, but one of the pages had been ripped out.

Punk cursed and realized that he must have ripped it out when he fell. That's when he remembered that he still hadn't thought about why his pants were undone when he had been asleep and they had be buttoned and zipped before he took his nap. He couldn't explain it. He wanted to think that he was doing it in his sleep, but he had never done it before, so why start now?

He was too tired to think about all this weird shit that was happening around his apartment, so Punk decided to go to bed early. He was hoping that he would get a few hours of sleep in before stuff started happening again.

Walking into his bedroom, Punk grabbed a plaid pair of pajama pants before heading into his bathroom. After brushing his teeth and changing into the pajama pants, making sure to tie them in a double knot, Punk walked back into his bedroom and put his clothes in his hamper.

Punk climbed into bed, but then he realized that his comic book was still in the living room, so he went to retrieve it. While he was in the living room he made sure his front door was locked.

Walking back into his bedroom, Punk turned on the light on his bedside table and climbed into bed again and read the rest of his comic book.

After turning off the light, Punk snuggled down into the covers and rubbed his head against his pillow. While falling asleep, Punk wondered idly to himself if he would dream of John again and where his freaking batman pajamas had hidden themselves.


	4. Chapter 4

John Cena's life for the past two years had been a hellish existence and not a life at all. He never imagined that he could be so unhappy and hopeless, but unlike a person who was connected to their body, John could not end his misery.

Some days he thought that he would wake up and this would all be a long, bad dream, but most of the time he knew that there was no hope for him anymore.

He was angry because he didn't deserve this poor excuse of an existence. The reason his soul was separated from his body was because he had pissed the wrong people off.

It all started about two years ago when two thugs came into his gym demanding that he pay their boss money every month for protection. John had laughed in their faces and thrown them out of his gym.

John Cena did not need protection from anything. He could take care of himself. Growing up, he had been bullied horribly, but when he had turned twelve, he decided he had had enough and started lifting weights and he never stopped.

By thirteen, John was taking care of himself and protecting the other kids who were being bullied.

In high school and college, John was a football star and almost went pro, but didn't because of injuries. Bodybuilding became his trade after college until he got tired of it and then he opened his own gym, which became very successful.

That was why those stupid thugs showed up at his gym that day, because he had become so successful, and the mob wanted a piece of the action.

John wasn't familiar with how the mob worked. Protection to him meant like a security system or surveillance, but in reality, protection meant that the mob would leave you and your business alone, but for a price.

In all honesty, John realized that he was lucky to get away with his life after pissing off the mob like that, even if he wasn't attached to his body anymore. He could have gotten a ducktape mask, like that one guy in Youngstown, Ohio, but instead he was cursed by a voodoo witch doctor.

Two years ago, it was like taking a trip down the rabbit hole. Everything John believed in had been turned on its side. He had never believed in voodoo, but here he was, a victim of it even here in Chicago.

About a week after refusing to give the mob money, a man had approached John in front of his apartment building and blew a reddish colored powder into John face. He immediately passed out and when he came to, he was staring down at his body in a mausoleum.

The man who had done this to him was there and introduced himself as the Undertaker. He explained that John wasn't dead, but his fate was worse than death. He was cursed to wonder the earth forever with human desires like hunger, thirst, and lust that he would never be able to satisfy.

John had been confused. How could he still be alive even though he wasn't in his body anymore? Undertaker had explained that the spell separated him from his body and placed it in a state of suspension, meaning his body would not decay or change no matter how many centuries passed. John was also told that there was a barrier around his body so no one would be able to see it and it could not be destroyed by any means, including fire.

John had begged Undertaker to take pity on him and put him back in his body, but Undertaker did not relent. However, he did tell John how to break the spell.

"You have to get someone to fall in love with you and speak your full name. When they speak your name, they will be taken to your body. If they truly love you, then they will be able to place your soul back in your body, but if they do not, your soul will be destroyed and you will cease to exist." With that, Undertaker disappeared in thin air, leaving John in the mausoleum alone.

John was hopeless. How could anyone come to love him if they couldn't sense him? There was also the problem that he was gay, making the task even more hopeless.

He went back to his apartment and just basked in his misery. Days passed then months then years.

He watched as his apartment was cleaned out of all his possessions and he had to watch as new people invaded his space. It took him a while to realize that he could manipulate some objects to scare the people into moving out.

It became sort of a game to him. How fast could he get people to move out of his apartment? His best record was a week and his worst was three months, but that guy had been one tough, old bird.

That was John's existence. Scaring people so they would leave his home, his space. That was until HE walked in.

John knew this man. He worked at the tattoo parlor that was a few blocks down from his gym. Before this had all happened to him, John had walked past the tattoo parlor every day in hopes of getting a peak at him and maybe even a chance to talk to him.

He became obsessed with him and he didn't even know his name. It was one of his regrets that he never worked up enough courage to go and introduce himself to the delectable tattoo artist.

John's world blossomed with hope. Maybe he could have his chance to get to know this man now and maybe he was even the one that could help him get his life back.

His heart warmed when he heard the man's realtor call him Punk. So, Punk was his name? It suited him.

John set back and watched with interest as Punk looked through his apartment. He wanted Punk to choose to stay here with him more than anything, so he decided to play a little dirty.

John had long ago discovered that he could make others feel his own strong emotions. He hadn't used this ability very often, but he passed feelings of this being his home onto Punk.

Punk seemed to have been effected by this because he had asked his realtor to put an offer on the apartment the very next day. John smiled to himself in victory. There was no doubt in his mind that Punk would be in his territory, permanently, very soon.

Punk moved in two days later, but John waited until he was settled in to make his presence known. John hadn't meant to scare Punk that first night. John had no idea that he was such a light sleeper.

He had just been thinking about how to woo Punk when he had been tempted by the cookies that girl had given to Punk. He had helped himself and then paced the living room for a while. Punk's leather coat had caught his eye. He lifted the coat up to his face and buried his nose in the collar. It smelled like Punk and he loved the scent. John had been startled when Punk turned on the light in the kitchen and came barreling out into the living room with a baseball bat.

The situation really was comical. The tables had been turned on him and he had been scared by the fully living, but from the look on Punk's face, John could tell that Punk was scared, too.

John waited patiently until Punk fell asleep again and then his ventured into his bedroom. Punk was beautiful, even though he was clutching his baseball bat to his chest. John had wanted to touch him so badly. He stood there next to Punk's bed and contemplated trying to touch him or not. Finally, John couldn't help himself and he reached out his hand to touch Punk.

He was shocked that his hand didn't go through Punk's shoulder, but he was quickly pulled out of his shock when Punk swung the baseball bat in his direction. Thankfully, the bat went straight through him.

Punk looked out of his mind in fear and John felt guilty for being the one to cause it. John walked to the bathroom and turned on the radio to a song that was saying just what he wanted to say to Punk but he couldn't. He didn't want Punk to be afraid of him and he really had been waiting for him. He didn't mean for the radio to turn on full volume, but it had and that scared Punk even more.

At that point, John had just rolled his eyes at the situation. The night was really turning into a disastrous clusterfuck. At this rate, Punk was going to move out before John could even attempt to put the moves on him.

Punk finally fell asleep again and John made sure to be extra careful not to wake him up. John just sat and watched Punk sleep for a long time observing his beauty, but then he wanted to see more.

Carefully, as not to wake Punk, John pulled off the blanket that was covering him. John laughed to himself when he saw the Batman pajama pants, but John wanted to see more of Punk still. He wasn't even sure how he got Punk out of his pajama pants without waking him, but John managed it.

Punk was so beautiful it almost broke John's heart. He wanted more than anything to be able to touch Punk more intimately than he had earlier that night, but he was afraid he would wake Punk again. John watched him sleep again, but after about an hour, John couldn't help himself and reached out and ran his finger down Punk's cock. That when John found himself pulled into Punk's dream.

John was in a park running in only a pair of basketball shorts and already dripping in sweat. He looked up and saw Punk running about a hundred feet in front of him. He smiled to himself and picked up his pace to catch up with Punk.

Punk was so cute the way he stumbled over his words and John loved the way Punk acted around him. John could tell that Punk found him just as attractive as John found him.

John was disappointed when he heard Punk's alarm going off outside of the dream, but quickly said goodbye to Punk and left.

He felt a little ashamed of himself when he found that he had been giving Punk a very poor hand job while he was in the dream with him. John quickly removed his hand from Punk's person and got off the bed before Punk woke up.

John watched as Punk jumped out of bed looking for his pajama pants and he laughed to himself. At least Punk thought that he was taking off his own clothes and didn't suspect him.

Unable to help himself, John followed Punk into the bathroom and shamelessly watched Punk shower. John obviously hadn't had sex in a long time and watching Punk shower had a strong effect on him. Unwittingly, John pushed some of his arousal onto Punk and John was gifted with the sight of Punk getting himself off. John couldn't remember seeing a more beautiful sight.

John gave Punk some space until he took his nap on the couch. John wanted to be able to interact with Punk some more, so he decided to try and jump into his dream again. He had some trouble getting into it because he thought that he could just touch any part of Punk's skin and he would get pulled into Punk's dream, but he was wrong.

He carefully unbuttoned and unzipped Punk's jeans and slipped his hand inside until he touched Punk's cock.

John found himself to be in the same park and he looked around to see find Punk. He spotted him down by the pond and he made his way over to him. John was just making his intentions known to Punk when there was a knock on the door. He quickly removed his hand from Punk's jeans and walked toward the kitchen.

John felt so bad when he saw Punk wipe out on the living room floor. After all, he had been the one to undo his pants, thus causing his face plant.

Peeking over Punk's shoulder from the kitchen, John rolled his eyes when he saw who it was. He should push her out of the apartment for interrupting him and Punk, but he gave Erin a pass because she made some damn fine cookies

Wanting to give Punk and Erin some privacy even if they didn't know he was there, John passed through the door and walked out the apartment building

For the first time in two years, John had hope in his life. He had a chance to get his real life back and maybe it would be even better than before because Punk would be with him. John just hoped that nothing would stand in his way of getting Punk to love him.


	5. chapter 5

'Okay, this was getting fucking ridiculous!' Punk thought to himself as he looked under his blanket. His pajama pants were gone, yet again! He had even double knotted them before he went to bed, so he had no idea how in the world he had taken them off in his sleep.

Feeling both angry and disgusted with himself, Punk threw back his blanket and got out of bed to look around for his missing pajama pants and, imagine that, he couldn't find them.

Punk sighed to himself before heading into the bathroom to take his morning shower. While he was showering, Punk thought about the dream he had last night.

He had dreamed about John again. They had been in the park running together and talking to each other companionably. Punk had gotten over being embarrassed around John once he had gotten to know him a little better and had loosened up around him. Punk was laughing at a humorous comment John had made about the Cubs when John suddenly stopped running. Startled, Punk had stopped too and looked back at John. Just as suddenly as he had stopped running, John took the few steps to close the distance between them and kissed Punk like he had never been kissed before. It wasn't a demanding kiss, but gentle and loving and Punk enjoyed John's taste. John pulled away just before Punk woke up to his alarm clock and gave him a dimpled smile before he faded away. Punk stretched out on his bed feeling all warm inside, but that's when he discovered his state of undress. Punk sighed to himself, shook his head and continued with his shower.

Was he so loved starved that he was thinking up a man so perfect that he could never exist? A man like that, even if he did exist, would never give a second glace Punk's way. They were too different. John was a nice, good boy that every mother hoped her child would grow up to marry. Punk was just… well, a punk. Even if John did exist, he would never have a chance. Punk struggled out of his negative thoughts and turned off the shower water.

He was just getting out of the shower when Punk felt like he was being watched again, but he quickly shoved the feeling away, thinking that it was just because he wasn't used to the apartment yet.

After trimming his facial hair and brushing his teeth, Punk walked back into his bedroom to get dressed. He started thinking about all he had to do at work today. He had a client coming in for another sitting to work on a dragon themed sleeve. That was going to take up most of his time, but he still had to draw out two tattoos for clients that were coming in later this week. There were always the walk-ins that came, too. Today was going to be one crazy, busy day.

He had already put his jeans on and was working on putting on his black V-neck t-shirt on when he felt fingertips caress down his back. Startled, Punk whirled around, but nothing was there.

Feeling unsettled, Punk quickly put his shirt on and walked into his kitchen. He didn't have time to make himself breakfast or even eat it before he had to leave for work, so he grabbed a Larabar.

Punk went around his apartment, collecting his wallet, keys and leather jacket, before heading out the door to go to work.

Fortunately, traffic wasn't too bad this morning and Punk was able to get into the shop a little earlier than usual. He quickly went about the shop getting it ready to open and a few minutes later, he unlocked the door and sat down at his desk to start sketching out a fairy tattoo for one of his clients.

By six O'clock, Punk was so tired! He had finished all the sketches that he needed to get done. How? He wasn't sure because there had been a lot of people that came in for piercings that didn't have appointments.

Punk was working on the client that was getting the dragon sleeve and he still had another hour more of tattooing. The client was determined to get the tattoo done in as few of sessions as possible, which meant that Punk had to stay late to tattoo for as long as the client could stand it. Today, he had drawn the line and only agreed to stay until seven and thankfully the client was okay with that.

That last hour dragged on for an eternity. Punk's back and shoulders were killing him. At about five 'til seven, Punk stopped tattooing and started the aftercare process.

His client was happy with his work and he and Punk walked to the front of the shop to make another appointment to finish the sleeve

Punk had just ushered his client out the door and was turning to go clean up so he could go home when he heard a motorcycle outside of the shop. It wasn't out of the ordinary, so Punk made his way back to the tattooing area to clean it up.

He was just finishing up when he heard the bell above the front door jingle, heralding someone had entered the shop and Punk groaned. Why hadn't he locked the door before he walked back here?

Feeling utterly defeated and fatigued, Punk walked back to the front of the shop but was shocked at the sight he was presented with.

Randy, the man he had met in the bar the other night, was leaning against his desk. In his hand, was a motorcycle helmet and he was wearing tight, leather pants and a Rancid t-shirt. Punk's mouth began to water from the sight in front of him.

Gathering his courage, Punk made his presence known. "Can I help you?"

Punk watched as Randy looked him up and down like he was something to eat. His insides melted when Randy smirked at him. "Oh, yea. You can help me all right." There was a dramatic pause and Punk thought that he might just pass out from the sexual tension that Randy was causing.

Randy walked towards Punk until there was very little space separating them. Punk felt like a deer caught in headlights or maybe a sheep for the slaughter, he wasn't quite sure. "I wanted to talk to you about doing a tattoo for me. How about we go and talk about it over dinner?" Randy practically purred into Punk's ear.

Oh, Punk wanted to, but his judgment told him that was a bad idea with how tired he was and it was Monday night, meaning Raw was going to be on. He didn't want to miss Raw and there was no doubt in his mind that if he went to dinner with Randy, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from tumbling into bed with him. That would be very bad because it's against the Straight Edge way of life to have one night stands.

"Sorry, I can't do tonight. You can come back in tomorrow afternoon and I can sketch something out for you," Punk hoped that Randy would take that instead.

"How about we talk about it over dinner tomorrow night? I know a great little place not far from here." Randy was determined to make this more of a date than a business meeting. He closed the little space that was left between himself and Punk and ran his fingertips down his arm.

Punk felt like his arm was on fire in the places Randy had touched him. His mind was so jumbled he just mumbled out an agreement to dinner tomorrow night without even thinking about it.

"Great! I'll pick you up here tomorrow at six." And with that Randy was out the door before Punk could even protest.

Punk cursed himself as he finished up closing the shop and made his way to his car. It wasn't that he didn't want to go out with Randy; it was just that he wanted to for the wrong reasons.

The only thing that was between them was sexual tension, nothing with actual substance that a relationship could stand on. Randy also seemed like the type that didn't stop until he got what he wanted, and he had only given signs that he wanted Punk's body. Punk realized that he would have to be very careful and on top of his game tomorrow night or he could very well end the night on his back.

Punk's anxiety had not lessened by the time he made it back to his apartment building. He needed to talk to someone, if only to bounce ideas off of them of how he was going to get himself out of this situation. Punk was hoping that Erin was home.

He knocked on her door and he heard her footsteps approaching so he was relieved.

When Erin opened the door, she had a haggard, defeated look on her face. Punk thought she almost looked like she was going to burst out into tears at any moment.

Instantly pushing his situation to the back of his mind Punk asked, "What's wrong?"

Erin rolled her eyes, "Is it that obvious?" She sighed before continuing. "Today was the day from hell at work. The power company was working on some of the power lines outside my building when we had a power surge. That made all the equipment go into emergency shut off. That created a whole host of issues and I spent the rest of the day on the phone, listening to automated customer service centers to try and get everything back online. It was horrible."

"Jeez, I'm sorry you had such a bad day. Anything I can do to help?" Punk looked at Erin with sympathy. He knew what it was like to have to deal with automated customer service centers and she did it most of the day. Punk honestly didn't know how she had hair left on her head.

"Oh, nothing. Luckily it is Monday, so watching sexy men in stretchy pants slathered in baby oil and a bowl of ice cream will make everything better." Erin grinned at Punk. "So, why did you stop by?"

"Wait, men in stretchy pants?" Punk really hoped that Erin didn't just admit that she was going to watch porn.

"Monday night Raw. Wrestling, Wrasslin. Personally, I like to call it men in stretchy pants."

Punk breathed a sigh of relief. He was surprised that a girl like Erin watched wrestling. He would have never guessed in a million years. Now he had someone to watch wrestling with. "Ah, I see. That's great because I watch it too and I wanted to talk to you about something that happened today. So, want to come over and watch Raw on my flat screen?"

"Sure! Do you like moose tracks ice cream?"

"Honestly, I've never had it, but I'll try it."

"Awesome! Just let me grab the carton and two spoons and I'll be right over." Erin beamed at him.

"Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked, so just come on in." With that Punk turned around and walked into his apartment.

It was just how he left it, thankfully. Punk took off his jacket and threw it over the back of one of the bar chairs. Walking into his kitchen, Punk grabbed two Pepsis out of his fridge and walked back into the living room.

Picking up the remote, Punk sat down and turned the channel to USA just in time to see the Raw signature come on.

It had just ended when Erin walked into the apartment and sat down next to him. "Wow, this is going to be epic watching this on your TV. It's freaking huge!"

Punk laughed, "It's one of the reasons why I bought it."

Erin took off the lid on the carton of ice cream she had brought over and passed it over to Punk along with a spoon.

Punk took a bite of ice cream and he was instantly in heaven. "Oh, man! This stuff is good!"

"I know, right? It's my favorite favor of ice cream of all time!" Erin and Punk passed the carton of ice cream between them while they watched Raw for a while.

"Oh my gosh! Look at Ziggler's trunks. It looks like he raided some poor girl's underwear drawer. I mean pink, sparkly zebra print? There's no way that he's straight, no way." Erin laughed and looked over at Punk.

"I have to agree with you there. He's flaming. And what's up with the shirt tucked into his trucks? Is it like a butt cape or something? I'm so confused." Punk snorted and shook his head.

"Oh! What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh right! You'll never guess who came into the shop right before I was about to close."

Erin perked up immediately and turned toward Punk. "It wasn't that one guy from dinner last night, was it?" Punk just nodded his head. "Ha! I was right! He's got it bad for you."

"Umm, I don't know." Punk told Erin everything that happened between him and Randy that night.

"Eww, what a creeper! You don't have to go out with him, you know. You can still cancel and say something came up."

"I know but he wants to get a tattoo and from the looks of the ones he has already it will be a big one, which will make me a lot of money. Besides, he could turn out to be okay now that he has gotten my attention."

"Do you like him?"

"Yea, I mean, look at the guy! He's gorgeous!" Punk laughed and smiled at Erin who smiled back.

"Okay, that's all that really matters. Just be careful, Okay?"

"I always am."

Punk and Erin's conversation was halted when they heard the sound of glass breaking coming from Punk's bathroom.


	6. Chapter 6

Punk and Erin looked at each other in shock, both of their mouths hanging open. "I better go take a look at that." Punk said as he got up off the couch.

"Wait! You're not going to leave me here are you?" Erin's voice was shaking in fear.

Punk rolled his eyes and looked back at Erin on the couch. "Well, come on then, you pansy."

Erin jumped off the couch and grabbed Punk's arm and hung on for dear life. "I'm a pansy and proud of it. If we were living in olden times you would be long dead for being Mr. Brave dude and I'd be still alive to produce offspring. It's called Natural Selection, dumbass." She blew a raspberry at Punk petulantly.

"Shut up!"

Punk walked as quietly as possible into his bedroom with Erin clinging to his arm. He looked around his room, but nothing was out of the ordinary, so the sound must have come from the bathroom.

Before heading into the bathroom, Punk grabbed his baseball bat from beside his bed. He had to shake out of Erin's hold so he could hold it and swing it properly. Erin shifted to stand closely behind Punk and she grabbed fistfuls of the back of his t-shirt.

Walking into the bathroom with Erin shuffling after him, Punk turned on the bathroom light with his bat raised. The light revealed that no one was in the room, but the origin of the sound of breaking glass was discovered.

The large mirror that hung above the his and her sinks in his bathroom was destroyed. It looked as if someone had put their fist through it. In the center of the mirror, there was about a 2 ft. circular section of the mirror that had completely shattered and had fallen to the floor. The rest of the mirror had spider web like cracks running through it. Punk was going to have to replace a very large mirror and he had no explanation for it.

Erin, who was still hiding behind Punk, decided his inaction meant that danger was not eminent, so she stood up on her tip toes, placing her hands on Punk's shoulders for balance, to try and look over his shoulder to see into the bathroom. She wasn't having much luck. She cursed herself for being so short.

"Hey, what's going on? I can't see around you."

Punk aside moved so she could see into the bathroom. Erin took in the sight before her with an astonished look on her face. She walked past Punk and further into the bathroom to get a better look at the damage.

Well, here's the impact point, but I don't see anything that could have smashed the mirror, let alone explain how in the world it would have been thrown into the mirror," Erin said pointing to the center of the spot where the mirror was missing. "Whatever it was had to hit the mirror laterally and not from above or the shatter pattern would be completely different."

Punk just nodded his head weakly, still in shock.

"You know, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to stay in your apartment tonight. I know I wouldn't want to. My couch is open if you want it." Erin looked back at Punk.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be okay. The mirror was probably just old and shattered from the changes in temperature from me running the shower this morning."

Erin scoffed at him. "You're talking to a woman with her Bachelors in Science here. I would support your hypothesis if you had just gotten out of the shower and the shatter pattern was different, but nope, you are totally wrong and in denial. You've got a ghost problem. Let's go find a broom so we can clean this up." She took Punk by the biceps and pushed him out the door.

Erin walked him into the living room and set him down on the couch. "Look at you! Afraid of a ghost, but not afraid the possibility of a robber sneaking through a broken window. I'll take a ghost over a robber any day." She shook her head and walked into the kitchen to look around for Punk's broom. She found one and cleaned up the mess.

Punk was sitting on the couch with a faraway look on his face when she returned to the living room. Raw was over and she needed to go home.

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself tonight? It's no trouble if you want to sleep on my couch." Erin said to Punk with a knowing look on her face.

Punk pulled himself from his thoughts to reply. "Yea, I'll be fine. I'm just shocked, that's all. I was trying to think of where I'm going to find a mirror that big to replace it." He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"I'm sure Lowes or Home Depot would have mirrors that size. If you change your mind at any time during the night, just knock on my door, okay?" Erin looked at Punk worriedly.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for coming over tonight and listening." He gave Erin a small smile.

She returned it. "No problem. I had a lot of fun making fun of Ziggler with you. I'll see you later." And with that Erin walked out of the apartment, leaving Punk alone.

He rested his elbows on his knees and placed his head in his hands. Punk had never had to deal with anything like this when he was growing up. The ghost in his childhood home had been playful and had only moved things. They had never broken anything, especially something as big as the mirror in his bathroom.

He didn't know what to think. What had he done to piss the ghost off or was the ghost even pissed off? Maybe it was just more aggressive in its fun making.

Punk wouldn't say that he was scared because he really wasn't. He was just unsettled because he didn't know what he was dealing with.

Looking over at the clock, Punk realized it was getting late and he should probably go to bed soon, so he walked into his bedroom to get ready for bed.

Not wanting to go into the bathroom again that night, he skipped brushing his teeth and took off his t-shirt and jeans before climbing into bed.

Realizing that he was too jazzed to fall asleep right away, Punk started reading another one of his comic books.

He lost himself in the comic book. It was a good one with an interesting plot and an intriguing main character. He was so engrossed in his comic that he didn't notice the footsteps that were creeping closer to his bed. The footsteps stopped right next to Punk's bed.

After a few minutes, Punk was pulled from his comic by the sound of heavy breathing. Feeling a little uneasy, Punk held his breath to see if he was making the noise. He wasn't.

Punk's fight for flight reaction took over and he tried to jump out of bed. Tried being the key word.

His wrists were caught by phantom hands. They were large and strong. Punk was just about to scream when a heavy weight settled across his hips. It felt like someone large had just straddled him. Punk's eyes were wide open but he couldn't see what or who was holding him down.

His heart was racing in his chest, which was heaving with his harsh breaths. He was so afraid. He had never experienced anything like this.

Suddenly, what felt like a pair of lips descended on Punk's in a harsh and dominating kiss. Punk tried to fight the kiss by moving his head back and forth to break it, but whoever was on top of him moved with him.

Punk cried out into the kiss when strong hips rolled into his with a painful, bruising force. His mind was racing along with his heart. What was happening to him?

Continuing to struggle to get out of the strong hold, Punk was beginning to feel light headed from a lack of oxygen. The lips had not yet lifted and he couldn't breathe.

As if sensing Punk's fading consciousness, the owner of lips removed them from Punk's person and Punk gulped down huge breaths. The weight on top of Punk shifted a little and the hands that had been holding Punk's wrists down to the bed moved so that only one hand was holding them down.

Punk heard heavy breathing coming from on top of him and hot breath danced across his bare, tattooed chest. He gasped when he felt the free hand caress down his side and then work on pulling his boxer- briefs down.

He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Punk started struggling even harder against the weight that was on top of him, but it didn't budge and continued working on his underwear.

Once his boxer-briefs were down around his upper thigh, a strong, calloused hand wrapped itself around Punk's flaccid manhood. The hand grasped him painfully hard and started pumping him harshly. Punk was in so much pain.

"Please, stop! It hurts!" Punk whimpered.

Instantly, the hands and the weight disappeared off of Punk's body and Punk, not wanting to risk being attacked again, jumped off the bed and ran into his living room and then out of the apartment, fixing his underwear along the way.

He stopped in front of Erin's door and pounded on it loudly. "Erin, open the door, please!" Punk yelled desperately.

He heard her footsteps approaching and he jittered, waiting impatiently for her to open the door.

"Punk, are you alri..." He didn't let her finish her sentence before he burst into her apartment and slammed the door. He grabbed Erin around the waist and clung to her like his life depended on it. His legs felt like Jell-O and they gave out on him, sending him in the direction of the floor.

Erin tried to hold up both of their weights but he was too heavy for her and they both landed on the floor in a heap.

Shifting to sit Indian style, Punk placed Erin across his legs and wrapped his arms around her tightly and started rocking. When he felt his eyes burning with tears, Punk buried his face in the hair on top of Erin's head.

At this point, Erin had no idea what had just happened. One minute she was dreaming of her wonderful boyfriend only to be interrupted by a pounding knock on the door and now she being held so tightly by her neighbor, who acted like he was scared to death, she could hardly breathe.

Erin tried to loosen Punk's grip on her, but it only tightened. "Man, let go. I can't breathe!"

Punk let up on his hold slightly, just enough so that Erin could breathe properly.

Deciding she would accept the compromise of not being released but being able to breathe, Erin crossed her arms and set about discovering why she was in this position.

"Sooo, want to tell me what happened?"

The only answer she received was Punk shaking his head, which was still buried in her hair. She sighed.

"Come on, Punk. I'm not spending the night on the floor. I'll start making the couch up for you and find you something to wear." Erin said looking at Punk's state of undress. Something bad really must have happened if he came over here in nothing but his underwear.

"No! I don't want to be alone! Please!" Punk declaration was muffled by her hair, but Erin was still able to make out what he said.

She chewed on her lower lip, trying to think of something that would get her off the floor and back into her comfy bed. The light bulb went off in her head, but she didn't really like the idea all that much. She didn't have any other choice, though.

"You can sleep in my room if that will make you feel safer." Punk seemed to agree because he got up off the floor with her still in his arms. That wasn't a part of her plan.

"Hey, put me down!" Erin said indignantly.

"I just need to feel close to someone right now or I'm going to break down. I'm sorry." Punk's voice waivered with both fear and tears. Erin's heart softened at the sound and decided that she could deal with being treated this way if it made Punk feel better. She knew that Punk never acted like this, even though she hadn't known him that long. He must have experienced something truly terrifying.

Punk placed Erin down on the bed and he got in after her, again wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a spoon.

This was a really awkward situation for Erin, but she pushed back the feeling. Punk needed her even if she did feel very uncomfortable at the moment.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it." Erin asked Punk softly.

"Yea, I'm sure."

"Okay, I'm here for you."

"I know. Thank you for being such a good friend."

"No problem, Punk. No problem." Erin said as she drifted off to sleep.

Punk stayed awake for a long time that night. The event in his bedroom kept replaying over and over in his mind. It was by far the scariest moment of his life.

Gradually calming down, Punk let go of Erin and she rolled away from him in her sleep. He had some of her long hair wrapped around his hand to reassure him that she was still there.

Punk was just drifting off to sleep when he heard footsteps approaching Erin's bedroom and then entering it. Terrified, Punk reached out and pulled Erin toward him into a strong embrace. She made a small squeak in her sleep but she didn't wake up.

Squeezing his eyes shut and hoping that the footsteps would go away, he listened as they came closer and closer to the bed until they stopped right next to it.

The room was silent for a few seconds before Punk heard a sharp intake of air, like someone was trying to hold back their tears. Then, a deep, husky voice whispered in Punk's ear. "I'm sorry." The footsteps started again, this time leaving the room.

Relieved that whatever it was was leaving, Punk sighed heavily. Punk thought about the voice he had just heard. It sounded so upset and sad. He had no doubt that it was the voice of the same thing that had held him down and assaulted him earlier that night.

It was sorry and from the sound of its voice, ashamed of itself. Even with this information, Punk wasn't sure he wanted to go back into his apartment.

Punk pulled Erin tighter into his chest and tried to catch a few hours of sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Punk woke up early the next morning with the sun in his eyes. He realized he wasn't in his bedroom and was confused for a few seconds until be remembered the events that had transpired the night before.

He wished it was all a bad dream, but it wasn't. He hadn't even dreamed about John last night, which would have been nice.

Sighing, Punk looked over to Erin's side of the bed to see if she was still there. She wasn't, but in the place she had been lying, there was a pile of clothes with a piece of paper on top of it.

Punk reached over to grab the paper and then he read it. "Thought you might like to have something to cover up with before you went walking around." He looked down at himself and realized that he had dashed over to Erin's apartment last night in nothing but his underwear. Punk blushed with embarrassment.

Getting out of bed, Punk grabbed the black t-shirt that was on top of the pile and began to put it on. He stopped, however, when he realized it wasn't a plain black t-shirt. On the back, it had a sign on the back that said 'Warning Marching Band' and the front said UHSMB going down the left side of the t-shirt.

"Oh dear God! A marching band t-shirt?" Punk scoffed to himself but put the shirt on anyway. Next, he put on the pair of green basketball shorts. Now that he was dressed, Punk decided to go in search of Erin.

He didn't have to go far. She was sitting at her kitchen table staring intently at her laptop. "Morning."

Startled, Erin jumped and let out a small squeak. "Jeez, you scared me!" Erin took in Punk's appearance. "I see you found the cloths I left for you."

"Uh, yea. Thanks. One question though. Why do you have a marching band t-shirt?" Punk asked while sitting down next to Erin.

"It's my boyfriend's that I dated in high school t-shirt." Erin said absently, still staring at her laptop screen.

"Wait, you dated a band nerd in high school?" Punk laughed and smirked at Erin.

That got her attention. "Hey now, I was one of those band nerds. Best time of my life, I'll have you know." Erin looked over at Punk with scathing look.

Feeling like he wanted to insert his foot in his mouth, Punk asked, "Oh. That's cool. So, what did you play?"

Erin got a faraway look in her eye and replied, "The alto saxamaphone in marching band and the alto and bari saxamaphone and the clarinet in concert band."

"Don't you mean saxophone?"

"Yea, sorry. My band director was a saxophone guy and he called saxophones the saxamaphones as an endearment and it's stuck with me." She laughed lightly.

Punk shook his head and laughed. "I see."

Both of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Erin pulled herself away from her laptop and leveled a serious look over at Punk. "So, you want to tell me why you can barreling into my apartment last night in only your underwear and so scared out of your mind you wouldn't let me go?" Erin raised an eyebrow at him.

Honestly, Punk just wanted to forget it ever happened and move out, but he didn't think Erin was going to let up on him easily. "Something bad happened to me last night that freaked me out and I don't want to go into any more detail." Punk looked into Erin's eyes to get his point across.

Erin tilted her head to the side and shrugged her shoulders. "That's fair enough. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Move out. I don't want to have to go through with that again. I don't even know if I even want to go back into my apartment, but I have to in order to go to work." Punk looked over at the clock on Erin's oven and saw he still had about an hour before he had to leave for work.

"I thought you would say that, so I got up this morning to do a little research. I found a way to protect you from ghostly encounters."

Punk's interest was piqued. "Yea and how is that?"

"I'm getting to that. Just try and keep an open mind, okay?" Erin looked at Punk pleadingly.

"Okay! I'm listening! Out with it already, woman." Punk said impatiently.

"We need to burn a crap load of Sage in your apartment. From what I have read, it keeps the ghost from being able to manifest itself or do anything, so it can't hurt you."

Punk felt hope blossom in his chest. Maybe now he wouldn't have to move out of his dream apartment. "So where are we going to get this crap load of Sage." He asked.

"I'm working on that right now. There's this place just outside the city that sells it, but it closes at 5pm and I won't be able to get out there in time after work. Do you think you could close early and go get it?"

"Yea, I don't have any big tattoos to do today, so I should be able to close around four and get out there before they close."

"Okay, that's good. I should be home by the time you get home, so we can burn it as soon as you get here."

Smiling in hope, Punk said, "Sounds like a plan." His face suddenly turned serious. "Will you do me a big favor and come over to my apartment with me, so I can get ready for work. It won't take that long, I promise."

Erin rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yea, let's go."

Hesitantly, they both walked into Punk's apartment and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so they ventured back to Punk's bedroom.

Punk was shocked when he saw that his bed had been made and his two missing pairs of pajama pants where folded neatly and resting in the middle of the bed. Walking toward the bed, Punk snatched the pajama pants off the bed and inspected them carefully. Nothing seemed wrong with them.

Turning back to face Erin, Punk said, "I've been looking all over for these. This is too weird." Punk walked over to his closet to put them back and to find something to wear for the day. He picked out one of his V-neck black t-shirts that he always wore to work and a pair of dark wash jeans and then grabbed a pair of underwear out of his drawer. He turned back to Erin again.

"Would it be gross if I didn't shower this morning?"

"No, you showered last night after I left, didn't you? Don't take this the wrong way, but you have smelled really good since you barged into my apartment last night. What kind of body wash do you use?" Erin looked at Punk curiously.

He was so confused. "I haven't showered since yesterday morning." Punk put his nose down his t-shirt and took a deep breath to smell himself. He stopped almost immediately when the scent reached his nose.

He smelled like the scent that he had been smelling in his apartment since he had moved in, only the scent that was coming off his body was stronger. The wheels started turning in Punk's head.

Remembering back to last night, Punk realized that this scent had been present when he had been attacked, he had just been so focused on getting away, that he hadn't noticed it at the time.

Realization suddenly dawned on him. The ghost had a scent and now it was all over his body. Feeling dirty and disgusted, Punk walked toward the bathroom, but then hesitated. He didn't want to be in there alone. He looked at Erin beseechingly, "Will you come in wi.."

"Hell no I'm not going into the bathroom with you! I'll be right out here if you need me." Erin walked over to the bed, sat down, and crossed her arms stubbornly.

Defeated, Punk walked into his bathroom cautiously. Everything was just how he had let it the night before. Not wanting to be in here longer than needed Punk divested himself of his clothing and then jumped in the shower to take the shortest shower he had ever taken. Punk hardly even dried off before putting his clothes on. He quickly brushed his teeth and then walked back into his room, back to Erin.

"See, that wasn't so bad. You are still alive." Erin joked.

Punk was relieved that he was out of the bathroom. "Yea, yea. Come on. I have to get to work and I'm sure you do, too."

"Yep, I do. I just need to pop back into my apartment and grab my purse and stuff." They walked out of Punk's apartment together and he waited for her while she went inside to get her stuff. It didn't take her long and they walked out of the apartment building together. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"My car is parked this way so I'll see you later tonight. Bye!" Erin walked away toward her car.

"Bye!" Punk yelled after her and then walked toward his car.

There had been a bad accident this morning, so traffic was pretty severe. Punk was almost late opening the shop, but managed to get there and ready in time. All day, the shop was super busy and Punk had no time to think about his apartment. At ten 'til 4, Punk locked the front door and worked on closing up. He was in his car and headed toward the shop to buy the Sage by 4:15.

*hd*

At exactly six O' clock, a black, sporty motorcycle pulled up to Punk's tattoo shop. The rider pulled off his helmet and revealed the sexy face of Randy Orton.

He walked up toward the shop and frowned. The lights were off in the shop. Randy tried the door, but it was locked. Looking around, Randy tried to find any sign of Punk, but he didn't see him.

Randy waited for about forty-five minutes, thinking Punk had gone home early to get ready for their date and was just running late. He never showed up, though.

Putting his helmet back on, Randy got back on his motorcycle and drove away. "Guess I got stood up." He thought to himself.

*hd*

Punk walked up the stairs to the second floor with a five pound bag of Sage under his arm. He hadn't been sure how much to buy, so he bought a lot. Better to have too much than not enough, he had reasoned.

Reaching his floor, Punk walked over to Erin's apartment door and knocked. He had to wait a few minutes before she answered the door.

"Sorry, I was getting stuff together. Come on in and I'll go over the game plan with you." Erin ushered Punk into the apartment.

"Okay, I picked up some large glass bowls to burn the sage in. We'll put a bowl in each room and then light the Sage. We have to watch them burn to make sure that nothing bursts into flame, so I got some bandanas so we don't suffocate." Erin placed the supplies on the table.

Punk thought for a moment. "So, this is just like bug bombing, but we're ghost bombing instead." He laughed.

"I guess so. I like to think of it as ghost busting!" Erin said with a large smile. "Alright! Let's move out! We're wasting daylight!"

"Did you just quote John Wayne? That's so random." Punk said tying a bandana around his mouth and nose.

"Yes I did and I'm a very random person when I want to be." Erin blew a raspberry at Punk.

They walked over into Punk's apartment and set about putting out the bowls and filling them with Sage. Once that was done, Erin went about lighting the Sage while Punk stood below the smoke alarm with a large cookie sheet in his hand. They weren't sure if there would be enough smoke to set off the smoke alarm, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

It took a while for all the Sage to burn and Punk waved the cookie sheet under the smoke alarm to keep the smoke away from it. After the Sage was burned, Erin opened the windows to air the smoke out.

Punk's arms were so tired by the time he could stop waving the cookie sheet without fearing the smoke alarm would go off.

"It'll take a few hours to take effect. Want to go over to my apartment to have eat dinner?" Erin said taking off the bandana.

"That sounds like a plan. I hope this works because all I want is a full night of sleep after last night."

Erin laughed. "That makes two of us."

Punk ate dinner with Erin and then they watched a movie, waiting on the Sage to do its job. Punk returned to his apartment around ten.

He was exhausted, so he decided to go to bed right away. Already, Punk felt more at ease in his apartment. Maybe it was just because he believed that the Sage had worked or the ghost really was gone.

Punk changed into a pair of gym shorts and climbed into bed. He didn't even need to read for a while to fall asleep. Almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.

*Dream*

He was running through his favorite park again, but John was noticeably missing. The run wasn't as fun or fulfilling without him. Punk had been getting pretty attached to his dream man the last few times he had dreamed of him.

Punk was pulled from his thoughts when he saw John materialize onto a park bench at the side of the running path almost out of thin air. Punk stopped to say hi and ask if John wanted to run with him, but he stopped when he took in John's appearance.

His elbows were resting on his knees and his head was buried in his hands. His shoulders were shaking as if he was crying.

Dumbfounded, Punk sat down on the bench next to John and put an arm around his shoulders. John looked up at Punk with tears rolling down his face.

"Please forgive me, Punk! I didn't mean to hurt you. I wasn't thinking straight. I was so angry!" John got the words out but immediately burst into tears.

Punk didn't know what John was talking about and he didn't know what to do. He didn't find himself in this situation very often.

"Hey, you didn't hurt me. Why do you think that?" Punk rubbed John's back comfortingly.

"No, I hurt you! I did! Please, I don't have much more time! Please say that you forgive me before I go away. I'm sorry!"

The hand on John's back stopped abruptly. John's last words to him were ringing in his ears. He had heard that before, exactly the way John said it. Punk looked at John wide eyed for a few seconds before leaning over and placing his nose on John's shoulder. John smelled like the thing that had attacked him the night before.

Realization hit Punk like a freight train. It all made sense now.

John looked up a Punk and wiped his tears away. He saw the look on Punk's face.

Punk was speechless for a few seconds before he found his voice. "You..."

Before Punk could finish his sentence, John looked at Punk mournfully and said, "Now you know," and disappeared straight out of Punk's arms.


	8. Chapter 8

Punk jerked out of his dream with a loud gasp. He was drenched in a cold sweat. His breaths were ragged as he placed his head in his hands and went over the events in his dream.

A lot had become clear. He hadn't dreamed up this amazing man and he wasn't losing his mind. John did exist, to what extent Punk didn't know, but he did know that his apartment wasn't haunted by a ghost who wanted to harm him.

Sure, John had "attacked" Punk in his bed, but as soon as Punk had said stop, John had let him go. That showed that John wasn't a bad guy.

Regret coursed through Punk's veins like a virus. He wished he could take back burning the Sage. He didn't know if he would ever get to see John in his dreams and experience him physically in reality again. He had made a huge mistake.

Sure, John didn't exist like the rest of the population, but he was real to Punk. Punk had grown attached to John in the few short dreams he had of him.

He loved his jovial personality and his dimples made Punk's heart melt. Was it possible to fall in love with someone in a series of dreams? Punk thought that maybe he already had.

Now that Punk knew that John was real and not just a delusion made up by his subconscious, Punk let himself think about living a life with John. He would only be able to see him in his dreams, but John could touch him and Punk could feel him in real life. It wouldn't be a normal relationship, but with a man like John, it wouldn't matter.

That possibility was gone now, though. Punk had ignorantly thrown away his chances. For the rest of that night, Punk mourned that John had slipped right through his fingers and he couldn't get him back.

Punk cried into his pillow until he eventually cried himself to sleep. This time he didn't dream of John. He didn't dream at all.

The next morning dawned overcast and rainy, perfectly reflecting Punk's mood. He wanted to wallow around in his bed all day in his self-pity and sorrow, but he had a business to run.

Punk stayed in bed until the last possible moment, then he changed into his work clothes and headed off to his shop. His day passed in a blur. He remembered doing piercings and small tattoos all day and then it was time to go home, to his empty apartment.

Opening the door to his apartment, Punk noticed the change in his apartment. It felt different, not welcoming or homey anymore. Punk now knew that John had been creating this feeling of home.

Punk closed the front door, not bothering to lock it, and then sat down on his couch. He stayed like that for a long time, just sitting in the dark, staring at the wall. He was snapped out of his numbness when Erin walked into his line of vision.

She had a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay? I knocked, but I didn't get an answer. I saw your car outside, so I knew you were home. Did something happen at work?"

Punk looked at her blankly. "Is there a way to reverse the Sage burning?" Punk completely ignored her questions. He needed to know if this was permanent.

Erin looked at him confusedly. "Why would you want to reverse it? You wanted to get rid of the ghost."

Punk felt rage boil up inside of him and he couldn't stop it from spilling over. He looked angrily up at Erin and snarled at her. "God damn it! Just tell me if it's reversible, you fucking nosey cunt!" Punk's eyes seemed like they were on fire as Erin looked into his eyes.

She was hurt, but buried her feelings to answer him so she could leave. "It was only a temporary fix. It was to be repeated every so often. Burning Sage can work anywhere from a few days to a few months and then it has to be burned again." With that, she turned on her heel and walked out of Punk's apartment, shutting the door softly behind her.

Punk's rage deflated at Erin's words. It was only temporary. John would come back to him and they could be together. Happiness exploded in his heart and he looked up at Erin to smile at her, only she wasn't there.

That was when it hit Punk what he had said to her. He had no reason to say that to her. She had done so much for him and had been so nice and willing to give him a chance. Many people just wrote him off as a tattooed freak, but she had looked past all that.

Punk, angry with himself for breaking the new, still fragile relationship, grabbed the side of his coffee table and turned it over in a loud crash. He sat back down on the couch, buried his head in his hands and burst into tears. For the second night in a row, Punk cried himself to sleep.

He woke up feeling horrible the next day. His eyes felt swollen and gritty. He had slept all night on the couch, so his body was achy. Work was waiting for him, though so he got up and went to work.

The day passed slowly. Clients were few and far between, which gave Punk a lot of time to think about how much he had messed up. He had hope that John would be coming back eventually, but the situation with Erin was bleak.

If the situation had been turned around and Erin had called him something as disgusting as what he had called her the night before, he would never forgive her. Punk hoped that she was more forgiving than him, but he would understand if she didn't want to have anything to do with him. Punk knew he needed to apologize but he was afraid she wouldn't stand in front of him long enough for him to get his feelings out. He had said something really despicable to her and it was unwarranted. She had been worried about him and it had been a long time since someone had been worried about Punk.

Punk was left to wallow in his guilt until the early hours of the evening. He was contemplating closing early to go and apologize to Erin, when the bell above the shop door jingled.

Looking up, Punk saw Randy. Punk didn't feel any attraction towards Randy like he had in the past. Punk had better in his life now, or would shortly.

Randy smirked at Punk which made an uneasy feeling build within him. He couldn't explain why. Randy strutted up to Punk's desk and then leaned against it. "Did you forget something Tuesday night?"

Punk had to think about it for a while. Tuesday night had been the night that he and Erin had burned the Sage. Suddenly, it dawned on him what Randy was talking about. "Oh, Shit! I'm so sorry! Something came up with my apartment and I had to leave early to take care of it." Punk hoped that the explanation would be enough for Randy. In all honesty, Punk didn't feel all that bad about standing Randy up.

Randy's smirk widened. "That's okay. I understand, but what are you going to do to make up for leaving me hanging." He looked at Punk expectantly.

Punk knew what Randy wanted to hear, but he wasn't going to get it. "Uhh, how about I do your tattoo for half price."

Randy's smirk faltered. "Hmm, as nice as that sounds, I was hoping that we could go out tonight and talk about what I want done over dinner." His smirk had made its way back onto Randy's face as he finished his sentence.

Punk rolled his eyes mentally. He really just wanted to go home and wallow around in his sorrow and guilt, but he didn't have the energy to turn down a guy as determined as Randy. "Okay, fine." Punk said defeated.

Randy's smirk grew into a full blown smile. "Great! I know this great little place not far from here. Here's a helmet for you to wear." Randy handed a motorcycle helmet to Punk, who looked at it confusedly.

"Why do I need this?"

"I ride a motorcycle and I'm driving us to dinner. Come on, put it on."

"Oh. I can drive. My car isn't parked far from here." Punk really didn't want to ride on a motorcycle with a guy he barely knew.

"No, that's okay. I'll drive."

Punk reluctantly got up from his seat and grabbed his keys and wallet from his desk drawer. He quickly locked up and he followed Randy to where his bike was parked. Punk felt sick to his stomach as he put the helmet on and climbed on behind Randy. Feeling very awkward, Punk wrapped his arms around Randy's midsection.

"You're going to have to wrap your arms around me tighter or you'll lose your balance." Randy yelled back at Punk as he started the bike. It roared to life.

Punk rolled his eyes, but tightened his hold on Randy anyway. One couldn't be too careful.

The restaurant that Randy took him to wasn't far from Punk's tattoo parlor, but by the time the pair made it there, Punk felt like he had escaped death multiple times and had to fight the urge to collapse to the ground and kiss it. It was been the scariest ride of his life.

They walked into the restaurant and Randy was greeted by name by the server. "I'd like the usual table, please." That sounded a little ominous to Punk.

The server showed them to a booth that was tucked away in the corner. Punk slid into one side of the booth and was surprised when Randy slid in next to him. The server gave them their menus and walked away, leaving Punk alone with Randy.

Punk opened his menu and was looking at what the restaurant had to offer when he felt Randy scoot over into his personal space. Punk responded by moving closer to the wall, but then Randy moved again, leaving Punk literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Deciding that if he ignored him, Randy would get the message that he wasn't interested, Punk kept his head buried in his menu. The restaurant was a pizzeria and it had a special pizza called the anaconda vice. That sounded pretty good.

Punk was pulled from his menu perusal when a hand planted itself on Punk's knee and began to journey upwards. 'Okay, this needs some redirecting.' Punk thought to himself. He grabbed the wondering hand firmly and removed it from his person. "Sooo, want to describe to me the tattoo you were thinking of getting."

Randy, not one to be foiled so easily, moved even closer to Punk and whispered hotly in his ear, "I wanted to get something put on my hip, something only a lover would see." After finishing his sentence, Randy's tongue darted out of his mouth and licked the shell of Punk's ear. Punk shivered from the contact, which encouraged Randy.

Punk felt as Randy sucked his ear lobe into his mouth and started flicking it with his tongue. Punk couldn't deny that it felt amazing, but he didn't want this.

He pushed Randy with his arms to get him off. "Hey, I think you've got the wrong idea. I came here to discuss the tattoo that you wanted. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression."

Randy, seeming to not have heard a word Punk said, pushed his way back into Punk's personal space and latched onto Punk's lips.

It felt completely wrong. Punk jumped when he felt Randy's hand on the inside of his upper thigh and his thumb rubbed against his jean incased member. With all of the strength he could muster, Punk pushed Randy, who went tumbling out of the booth. Punk stood up with fury in his eyes. "Take me back to the shop. You clearly have the wrong impression of me and I don't want to spend any more time with you."

Randy looked up at him with eyes glowing in rage, but he didn't say anything as he stood up. Punk watched as Randy grabbed his helmet and walked toward the entrance of the restaurant. He turned around and beckoned nastily at Punk to follow him.

Punk honestly didn't care that Randy was angry. He didn't like being treated like some cheap whore.

The ride back to the shop was even more terrifying than the ride to the restaurant, but Punk was happy to be getting away from Randy. As soon as Punk's body had cleared the bike, Randy took off down the street with his engine roaring. Punk flipped him the bird, but Randy didn't see it, unfortunately.

Deciding to go home instead of going back to the shop, Punk walked to his car and drove home. He was so pissed off at Randy, Punk didn't notice that he was being followed.

Punk's anger had deflated by the time he walked into his apartment. The guilt and sorrow was back in full force. His apartment still felt hollow

He walked into his bedroom and laid out on his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before turning over and grabbing the comic book that was resting on the bed side table. He planned on escaping into a world that was better than his, but his plan was ruined by a knock on the door.

Hoping it was Erin ready to hear an apology from him, Punk rushed to the door and didn't even bother looking through his peep hole. That was a horrible mistake.

As soon as the door was opened a little, it burst open and revealed a very angry looking Randy. Punk just stood there in shock. Randy pushed him hard in the chest, which sent Punk to the floor. He looked up to see Randy shut and lock the door behind him. A feeling of dread bled throughout Punk's body.

Launching himself to his feet, Punk dashed toward his bedroom, hoping to put a locked door between himself and Randy. He got as far as closing his bedroom door, before it was kicked open by Randy. Heart pounding in his ears, Punk ran toward the bathroom, which was his last hope.

Arms encircled his waist like vices before he could reach the sanctuary of his bathroom. Randy's breath fell hotly against his neck as Punk was lifted off his feet and carried over to the bed.

Punk fought the entire way, but Randy did not let go of him. He was thrown onto the bed and his body was quickly covered by Randy's. Punk felt as a hand gripped both of his wrists with one hand in a bruising grip. Randy's lips descended on Punk's in a dominating and painful kiss.

Punk moved his head to the side to break the kiss. "Stop, stop, stop! Leave me alone." Punk's cries fell on deaf ears and Randy began biting his way down Punk's neck.

Trying to buck Randy off of him, Punk writhed underneath Randy. He heard Randy let out a guttural moan. "Uh, fuck yea, Punk. Just like that! You're such a fucking dirty whore." Randy pressed his hardness into Punk's upper thigh painfully.

Punk's body went completely still. Randy liked what he was going to try and get away from him. He couldn't do anything to stop this. Punk closed his eyes and began chanting "Stop" like a mantra.

Randy didn't care, though. He pushed Punk's shirt up so he could see his chest and stomach. He liked what he saw. Still holding Punk's arms down, so he couldn't get away, Randy dipped his head down to Punk's chest and sucked one of Punk's nipples into his mouth and bit down harshly. This rewarded him with a scream from Punk.

Tears were streaming out of Punk's tightly closed eyes. The word stop was still spilling out of Punk's mouth in a mantra. He just wanted this to go away. He didn't want to be here.

Randy continued to abuse Punk's nipple as he moved his hand down Punk's tattooed stomach. When he reached his jeans, Randy slipped his hand underneath them and into Punk's underwear. He smiled against Punk's chest when he felt his prize and he squeezed hard.

Punk let out another scream from the pain. Suddenly, he felt Randy's hand leave his pants and his weight disappear from on top of him. Punk opened his eyes and was ready to make a break for the bathroom, when he saw Randy sliding across his bedroom floor on his stomach and then out of sight into his living room at a very fast rate.

Punk heard Randy let out a long scream and then the front door slam open. This sound was followed by the sound of a fist hitting a jaw and then Punk heard a loud, angry voice. "He's mine!" and then the front door slammed.

Punk knew that voice anywhere. "John?" Punk called out to him. It came out more like a sob than anything else because he was still upset.

The bed dipped and then Punk felt comforting arms encircle him. Relief coursed through Punk's body. John's soothing smell enveloped him. John made Punk lay down on his side and he spooned behind him, holding Punk tightly in his arms.

Punk's tears renewed as he was overwhelmed by the feeling. 'Shh, I'm here. I won't let him hurt you anymore.' John's voice ran through Punk's mind like a soothing balm. He began to feel very sleepy, but he fought it because he needed to tell John how he felt.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you! I didn't mean to send to away!" Punk was hushed by John in his mind again. He felt the feeling of forgiveness rush though his body. He was relieved that John had forgiven him.

Even though he was still feeling very sleepy, Punk fought going to sleep. After a few minutes, John had had enough. 'Sleep. You've been through a lot tonight. I'll find you in your dreams.'

Feeling reassured, Punk let himself drift off into his dream world, hoping John would find him quickly.


	9. Chapter 9

Punk found himself sitting on a bench overlooking the pond in his favorite park. The weather was warm and beautiful, but he didn't take much notice of it. He was looking around for John, who was noticeably absent.

He had so many questions that he wanted to ask John and he also had many things that Punk wanted to tell him. One dream was not going to be long enough for Punk to be satisfied. He decided to take matters into his own hands and try and find John myself.

Punk got off the bench and began running down one of the paths. He kept his eyes peeled for John, but his thoughts began to wonder.

Was this really happening to him? Did he have a ghost or whatever John was in his apartment with him? And was he really falling for him in such a short amount of time.

Just a few weeks ago, Punk had felt like his life was a meaningless routine, but now, it was like he stepped into a tacky, supernatural romance novel.

Punk was pulled from his musings when he heard footsteps coming up behind him. Quickly turning around, he saw that it was John. A warm smile burst across Punk's face.

He stopped and waited for John to reach him. John had a large smile on his face as well. One could say that he was beaming. "Don't you know you're supposed to stay in one place if someone is trying to find you?" John asked Punk teasingly.

Punk scoffed and replied, "How was I supposed to know you weren't waiting on me to find you?"

"Well, I told you I would come and find you in your dream before I made you go to sleep." John crossed his arms and gave Punk a look like he dared him to say anything else.

Punk thought for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Alright, you got me there."

Both men were standing about an arm's length apart and they just started at each other smiling for a few moments before John closed the distance between them. He enveloped Punk into a warm embrace and hung on to him.

Gingerly, Punk wrapped his arms around John's torso and waited for him to speak. He was shocked when he felt John's chest halt with his breaths. Punk was confused why he was upset. "What's wrong?"

John pulled Punk tighter into his embrace and kissed the top of Punk's head before he replied. "I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do anything to stop him. That I would have to watch him humiliate and break you and not be able to do anything. I don't know how, but that stuff that you burned just dissipated and I was able to stop him. God, I don't know what I would have done if he had hurt you!" John rubbed his face into Punk's neck and he felt John's tears.

Punk didn't know how to feel. It had been a long time since anyone had cared about him this much, if ever. His parents could have cared less when he was growing up and his friends all did their own thing. Punk felt very touched by John's emotions.

"Shh, it's okay. You didn't let him hurt me. You saved me and it would have been my fault if you hadn't been able to. I burned the Sage and I should have looked to see who it was before I answered the door." Punk rubbed John's back comfortingly.

John's back muscles stiffened under Punk's hands. "No. It was my fault that you burned the Sage. I scared you because I couldn't control myself. Will you forgive me?" John's voice was soft against Punk's ear.

Punk smiled against John's shoulder. "I forgave you a long time ago. Let's stop trying to take the blame from each other for this situation. I have a lot of questions to ask you."

John let Punk out of his embrace and then grabbed his hand to lead him to a nearby bench. After they sat down next to each other, John still kept a hold of Punk's hand and ran his thumb over the top of it.

Punk smiled at the contact before launching into asking his questions. He asked the question that had been pressing on his mind the most first. "What are you?"

John shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if there's a name for it or not, but I'm not a ghost. I guess the best way to explain it is to tell you how I got this way." John proceeded to tell Punk about the mob, the Undertaker, and his existence.

The new question pressing on Punk's mind was, "Well, how do you break the spell?"

John squirmed under Punk's gaze. His hand tightened its hold on Punk's subconsciously. "Well, that's even more complicated. You see, I have to fall in love with someone and they have to fall in love with me and then they have to say my full name, which will transport them to my body and then magically they will know what to do to break the spell." John to a deep breath after expelling all that information.

Punk sat there for a moment and let the information sink into his brain, hoping the longer it marinated up there, the more clear it would become, but he wasn't seeing much improvement.

John continued. "Here's the real kicker, if they don't truly love me, I will cease to exist completely. No afterlife, no nothing."

Punk chewed on his lip at this new piece of information. Before John had said that, Punk thought that maybe he could try and break John's spell, but now with so much on the line, he wasn't sure he even wanted to attempt it. How do you know if you are truly in love with someone? Punk had never been in love. Was what he was feeling for John love or just infatuation? He couldn't be for sure.

He was pulled from his thoughts when John leaned over and nuzzled Punk's temple. "Don't worry about it, Punk. I'm happier right now than I have been in a long time." John moved his head and kissed Punk's cheek.

That action sent a shiver down Punk's spine and awakened something within him. He wanted more.

Punk turned his head toward John's and captured his lips with his own. John tasted so good. The kiss was slow and tentative, like they were observing how the other kissed and liked to be kissed.

John was the one who added more pressure and passion, making the air almost sizzle between them. Punk moaned into the kiss. He couldn't remember the last time be had been so turned on by one kiss.

Punk opened his mouth and ran his tongue over John's bottom lip, asking for entrance. John slowly opened his mouth and let Punk in.

Their tongues began a battle for dominance that lasted for a long time, until Punk had had enough and conceded to let John mouth fuck him with his tongue.

Punk was so painfully hard. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. Wanting to push John to the next level, Punk pushed John against the bench and then moved to straddle his lap. Once in place, Punk rolled his hips into John's harshly.

John broke away from the kiss and moaned loudly. He grabbed onto Punk's hips and started to grind back against Punk's thrusting hips, which earned him a strangled moan from the man above him.

Punk hungrily latched onto John's lips and started exploring his mouth again with his tongue. John opened his mouth wider and let out another moan.

Sliding his hands off Punk's hips, John slipped his hands underneath Punk's shirt and quested upwards until he found Punk's tight nipples. Punk moaned into his mouth when he started rubbing circles around them with his thumbs. He then started grinding against Punk even harder, who answered back with stronger thrusts.

Punk broke the kiss and moved his head over to John's ear where he sucked John's ear lobe into his mouth and bit down on it.

"Oh God, Punk! You feel so good! Mmm." John scratched his way back down to Punk's hips. Punk arched his back at the small pain.

"Oh fuck, John! I so fucking close! I want you to touch me!" Punk whispered hotly into John's ear.

John growled and removed his hands from under Punk's shirt so he could work on his pants. He had just unbuttoned Punk's jean and was working on lowering the zipper, when he heard an annoying beeping noise. That made him stop for a moment to figure out what it was.

Punk moaned above him impatiently, wondering why John had stopped. "Please, don't stop John. Touch me." He bucked against John's hands and at that moment, John realized what the beeping was.

John let out a disappointed groan and grabbed Punk's hips to get his attention. Punk looked down at him with a frustrated look on his face. John knew just how he felt. "Your alarm is going off." And with that Punk was whisked away out of his dream

*reality*

Punk turned over and slapped his alarm off. He was so painfully aroused. He arched his back to try and relieve it a little but that didn't work. "Fuck, John! You still here?" Punk all but moaned out.

Punk felt a shifting in the bed. Yea, I'm here. Punk felt his brain vibrate a little with John's aroused voice.

"Can we finish what we started out here or not because I'm in a lot of pain right now." Punk arched his back again and moaned when his cock rubbed the inside of the zipper of his jeans.

All I'm going to be able to do is finish you off quickly. 

"God! Then do it. I'm dying here! Mmm, fuck!" Punk had slept on top of the covers, so he watched as his already undone jeans were pulled down his hips and thighs. They were thrown across the room soon after. Next, Punk's underwear was pulled down just enough for his dipping cock to be revealed.

Punk closed his eyes from the pleasure and then felt his shirt being raised until his chest felt cold air. He moaned and arched his back when he felt a hot mouth latch onto one of his nipples.

His moan was strangled when a warm, calloused hand wrapped around his cock and started rubbing him vigorously.

Completely speechless, Punk just basked in the intense pleasure that John was bestowing upon him. His brain didn't even give a thought of how weird it was to be jacked off by a guy he couldn't even see.

I wasn't long before Punk arched his back one final time and released into John's invisible hand.

Punk breathed harshly as he recovered from his orgasm. He reached out for John to give him his turn, but John moved away from him.

"Hey! Get back here! I want to return the favor."

Punk heard John's laugh in his mind. Thank you, but you won't be able to do anything to make me come. I can't since I don't have my body. Punk's mouth fell open and he gasped.

"That's not fair! Would you be able to come in my dreams?"

Hmm, probably not. Let's not talk about this anymore. It's just making me hornier and you have to get ready to go to work.

Punk groaned but got out of bed anyway. He headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

While he was in the shower, he felt like he was being watched. Instead of being freaked out like the other times, Punk smirked to himself. "So, it's been you peeping in on me all this time."

Can't blame me for enjoying the view. John laughed.

Punk got out of the shower and proceeded into his bedroom to dress for work.

A half an hour later, Punk was ready to walk out his door, but hesitated. "Can you come with me or do you have to stay here?" he asked John

I was hoping you would ask me. I don't want you to be alone at work today. There's no telling what that sick dude would do to you. John's voice ended with an angry growl

Punk didn't want to think about it, but was glad that John was going to come with him to work.

Both men left the apartment and Punk drove them both to his shop. Traffic wasn't that bad this morning, surprisingly.

The shop had been opened for about an hour and Punk was sitting on one of the leather couches in the back with John, who was running his phantom fingers through Punk's hair. Punk was working on a sketch for one of his clients. He was pulled from his task when the bell on the front door jingled, signaling a visitor.

Punk got off the couch and walked to the front of the shop. He entered the front of the shop just in time to see Randy lock the door behind him and pull the blind.

This wasn't good. Punk slowly started making his retreat to the back room, hoping to find a place to hide, but Randy's eyes descended on him before his had the chance.

Randy looked at him with wild eyes and Punk watched as an evil smirk grew across his face. "I don't know what happened last night in your apartment, but I'm going to finish what I started," and with that, Randy lunged for Punk.

He didn't get very far, though. Randy felt as a strong hand wrap itself around his neck and squeeze. The hand around his neck lifted him off the floor and walked him over into the wall and pressed him against it.

Randy's eyes went wild with fear. He couldn't see what was attacking him. Suddenly, a nasty voice yelled into Randy's mind. "You will leave him the fuck alone. He doesn't want you and he's mine!" Randy felt a fist punch him across the face, breaking his nose.

When the hands released him, Randy headed toward the door like the hounds of hell were after him. He didn't look back as he opened the door and ran out.

Punk placed a hand over his heart to try and calm its frantic beating. Punk wasn't even on the receiving end of John's wrath, but he was scary!

I hope you have a mop. I overdid it a little, I must admit, but not enough to constitute peeing yourself. What a pussy! John was laughing up a storm.

At John's words, Punk's gaze was drawn to the yellow puddle on the floor where John had had Randy pinned against the wall. Randy had peed himself. Punk didn't know whether to laugh or be upset at having to clean up the mess. "I'll be damned" he said to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

After finding a mop in the back, Punk cleaned up the mess that Randy had left and then unlocked the door. There wasn't much peace to be had after that.

The shop turned into a complete mad house. People were coming and going asking for tattoos and piercings and Punk could hardly keep up with the rush. He could still feel that John was in the shop, but he didn't say or do anything for obvious reasons. By the time six o'clock rolled around, Punk was exhausted and ready to go home.

He locked up the shop and he and John were heading back to his car when John broke the silence. "I think you should apologize to Erin tonight."

That had come out of nowhere. "How do you know I need to apologize to Erin?"

John let out a small laugh. "Just because I couldn't make my presence known, doesn't mean I couldn't see and hear everything. I know that you were just upset and didn't mean it, but she doesn't know that."

"Yea, I know. I'm just afraid if I go to ask for forgiveness and tell her how much of an idiot I am that she'll just slam the door in my face." Punk started chewing on his bottom lip with worry.

"I think she would give you enough time to apologize, but don't go empty handed. Girls like gifts from the people who are asking for forgiveness."

This caught Punk's attention. "Oh yea, how would you know about that?"

"I have four brothers, two of which are married. I've seen what they have gone through and seeking forgiveness always goes much better when they have a gift in their hand." Punk could hear John's smile in his voice.

"Okay, but what kind of gift do I get her? Jewelry is out because that's inappropriate for our relationship. Flowers are out, too, because I don't know if she has allergies."

John chuckled. "It doesn't have to be anything that guys typically buy their girlfriends, it could be anything. What does she like?'

Punk thought for a moment. "Well, she does like moose tracks ice cream. It's her favorite flavor."

"There you go. You just find the biggest container of moose tracks ice cream they sell and present it to her when you go to apologize."

"Do you think she'll forgive me that easily? What I said to her was awful."

Punk felt John take his hand. "I don't know. She seems like a forgiving person, but what is important is that you apologize to get it off your chest. It's up to her if she wants to forgive you or not. Now, I'm going to go back to the apartment, so you can go talk to her by yourself. Don't forget the ice cream." With that, Punk felt John's hand slip out of his own and his presence leave his side. He was all alone now.

He didn't like feeling alone, but Punk tried not to dwell on the feeling because the faster he bought the ice cream and then apologize to Erin, the faster he could get back to his apartment and John.

On his way back to the apartment building, Punk stopped at a convenience store to buy the ice cream and then headed to the apartment. As he was climbing up the stairs to his and Erin's floor, Punk was starting to feel a little apprehensive. Would she even open her door to hear him out? He couldn't be for sure.

He stood in front of her door a couple seconds before knocking. He could hear his own heart beat ringing in his ears as he heard her footsteps approaching the door. Finally it opened to reveal Erin, who had a neutral look on her face. Punk took that as a good sign.

Offering her the ice cream in his hand, Punk began his apology. "I want to say that I'm sorry for what I said to you the other night. It was despicable and I didn't mean a word of it." Punk looked her in the eye while he said this and he searched them for any signs.

Punk almost let out a huge sigh of relief when she took the ice cream out of his hand and smiled. "I know that you didn't mean it and I was never mad at you. I could tell that you were upset and I left to give you some space. Believe me; I've been called a lot worse."

Punk was a little shocked. "Who called worse things than what I said to you? That was horrible."

Erin laughed lightly. "Oh buddy! You have nothing on irate college students. I was an RA in college and some of the things I was called are not to be repeated in polite conversation. Some of those kids could scandalize even the saltiest sailor. That's when I learned it's best to walk away from people when they are like that. It gives them time to cool down."

"Huh, I would have never guessed that you were an RA."

"Eh, I did it for the free housing, not because I enjoyed it. You want to come in and have some ice cream with me? I think there's some Walking Dead reruns on that we can watch."

Punk thought for a moment. He wanted to get back to his apartment to be with John, but if he declined her offer, she might think that he didn't want to hang out with her. He decided to take her up on her offer. "Sure, I'm up for some ice cream and zombies."

He and Erin sat on her couch passing the carton of ice cream between them and watched the show. Punk couldn't get into it, though. His mind was on John and how to break his spell. Did he really love John or not?

"Have you ever been in love?" Punk wanted to face palm himself as soon as the words left his mouth. There were days when he wished he had a filter between his brain and his mouth and this was one of them.

Erin looked over at him in shock because the question had come out of nowhere. She looked like she was deep in thought trying to come up with an answer. "Um, I don't really know. Before Mason, I've never been in love, but I don't know what I am feeling for him now. It's like nothing I've experienced before. I don't know if it's just infatuation or not."

"What does it feel like? What you feel for Mason." Punk wanted to know if she felt for Mason what he felt for John.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she was deep in thought. "Hmm, I'm trying to put it into words, but I find any to do the feeling justice. I guess I just feel complete when he's with me, like he fills a space inside me that can only be filled by him."

Punk thought for a moment. "How do people even know when they are in love?"

Erin took another bit of ice cream before answering his question. "I don't know, but I know what love looks like."

Punk was a little confused by this statement. "What does it look like?"

Erin looked over at Punk and smiled. "You know those old married couples that have been married for over fifty years, but they act like they just got married yesterday? They are always holding hands and smiling. It's the saddest but most beautiful thing when one of them dies and the other one follows within a few days or months. It's like they can't live without being with the other one, so they follow them into death. That's the kind of love I want and I won't get married until I find it."

Punk was touched by her words. He had seen that kind of couple from time to time, but he thought their kind of love was rare. Now, though, he wasn't so sure. "Do you think Mason will be that guy for you? The one who will give you that kind of love?"

Erin looked like she was struggling for an answer. "I really don't know. I think that he has the potential to be that guy, but I don't think I've known him long enough to make that determination. So, what brought up all this thinking about love?"

Punk felt blood rush to his cheeks. "Umm, I don't know. It was just a thought that hit me."

Erin looked Punk in the eye for a few seconds before turning back to the TV. "Whatever you say, Punk."

They watched the rest of the show in silence and after it ended, Punk went back to his apartment.

As soon as he opened the door, he knew that John wasn't there. The apartment felt empty and cold. Punk shivered as he closed and locked the door behind him. Why wasn't John here like he said he would be?

Thinking that John would find him in his dreams, Punk got ready for bed. It took him a while to fall asleep because his mind was running wild wondering if he was truly in love with John and where John was. The exhaustion of the busy day caught up with him though, and he fell asleep.

*Dream*

For the first time since he had moved into the apartment, his dream did not take place in his favorite park. He was surrounded by darkness and he couldn't see a thing. Suddenly, he heard John's voice desperately calling out to him. Punk frantically looked around for him, but he couldn't find him.

John's voice only became more urgent and Punk started to get frustrated and upset that he couldn't find him. The sense of urgency and danger was overwhelming Punk, but he worked through it to find John.

Suddenly, Punk heard John let out a blood curdling scream and then he appeared in front of him, but he wasn't alone.

The Undertaker had both of his arms wrapped tightly around John's abdomen. Punk watched as John struggled to get out of the Undertakers hold, but his grip was too tight and John couldn't get free.

Punk started running toward John to try and free him, but for every stride he took, the Undertaker moved away from him. He tried running faster, but it was no use. He couldn't get to John.

"Let him go!" Punk yelled as kept running toward them.

The Undertaker let out the evilest laugh Punk had ever heard. It felt like his heart shriveled in his chest at the sound. "If you truly loved him, you could get to him, but you're incapable of loving anyone, aren't you Punk? You're just a selfish, hateful person. That's why your family doesn't care about you, why your friends don't care, and why you will always be alone."

Punk could no longer hold back the tears after hearing the Undertaker's hurtful words. He knew most of his words had been true, but he loved John.

"No, I love John. He's mine! Give him back!" Tears were streaming in rivers down Punk's face, but he didn't stop running. He would get to John and save him.

The Undertaker let out another bone chilling laugh. "You aren't in love with him, little one. You don't even know what love is. If you truly loved him, you could tell me his full name and I'd let him go. But you can't, can you, little one? You don't love him enough to know his full name."

Punk let out a harsh sob that wrecked his entire body, but he kept running. He tried pushing himself to run even faster, but he couldn't. "He never told me his full name. Please! Give him back!"

This time it was John who spoke up. "Please, Punk! You know my last name. She told you! You have to remember!"

Punk was desperate. "Who told me? Just tell me her name and I'll remember."

One of Undertaker's hands slapped over John's mouth, stopping him from giving Punk anymore hints. "It's now or never, little one. Tell me his name now or he will cease to exist."

"No, no, no, please! Just give him back to me!" Punk screamed through his tears. He couldn't lose him.

"That wasn't the right answer, little one. Now he has to go away. Any last words you want to say to him before you go away forever, John?" Undertaker removed his hand from John's mouth. John had tears flowing down his face as well. Punk could hardly stand to look in John's eyes. They held disappointment and sorrow so strong that Punk couldn't stand it anymore and looked away. Punk started crying even harder.

John's voice was weak from his tears, but his message was powerful enough to shatter Punk's heart into a million, tiny pieces. "I love you so much, Punk. I'm sorry that I wasn't enough for you to love me back." And then he disappeared from the Undertaker's arms.

Punk fell to his knees in a heap and then threw his head back and screamed his denial and anguish. It was a long scream and after he was finished, he felt completely spent.

Collapsing into the fetal position, Punk started sobbing uncontrollably. He couldn't even breathe he was sobbing so hard. He had let John down. The man he loved even though the Undertaker said he didn't. He knew in his heart that he loved John more than he had loved anyone else and he would never love anyone as much as he loved John.

He heard footsteps approaching him and Punk knew it was the Undertaker. Punk knew that he should be afraid, but he wasn't. The Undertaker had already done the worst that he could ever do to Punk by taking John away from him forever. Punk's sobs were temporarily interrupted when the Undertaker kicked him in the ribs. He heard several of his ribs crack as they broke, but he didn't care. He deserved the pain for letting John down. Maybe if he was lucky, the Undertaker would kill him. He couldn't live without John. That's how much he loved him. He loved him with the type of love that Erin had described. He truly loved John.

"Your crying isn't fooling me, little one. You couldn't find it in your heart to save the only man who has ever loved you? What a selfish, little bitch." The Undertaker delivered another kick to Punk's ribs and then walked away.

The sobs shaking Punk's entire body were incredibly painful to his broken ribs, but he didn't care. He just laid there crying, waiting to die. Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a concerned John calling out to him. His voice tore Punk out of his nightmare.

*Reality*

John crept silently into Punk's bedroom because he didn't want to wake the sleeping man. He had told Punk that he would go straight back to the apartment, but he had seen one of his brothers on the way home. John hadn't seen his brother in almost two years, so he followed him for a while.

His brother had gone back to his home and that's when he discovered that he was an uncle. He had a beautiful niece. John's heart had melted almost instantly. She was so precious with light blonde hair and John's own blue eyes. She looked like a Cena.

John had stayed and watched her play until the knowledge that she might never know who he is got too much for him. As far as his family was concerned, he was dead. They had given up the search for him a long time ago, assuming that the mob had killed him and done and good job of hiding his body.

He had walked back to the apartment slowly, thinking about how things could have been different if he wasn't in this situation. He wondered if he would have ever gotten up the courage to introduce himself to Punk and if they might be married right now.

Married. John knew that there was not another man out there for him other than Punk. He loved him with all his heart. Even though the circumstances would have been different, John knew that he would have fallen in love with Punk if he hadn't lost his body.

Breaking out of his thoughts, John looked down at the man lying on the bed. He was so perfect and beautiful. John felt his heart swell just at the sight of him.

Carefully, as not to wake him, John laid down on the bed beside Punk and then pulled him into his arms. This was home, having his arms wrapped around Punk, just relaxing and enjoying the sensation. John didn't want to jump into Punk's dream tonight because he had been asleep for a while, but John was content just holding him in his arms.

John didn't need to sleep because he wasn't connected to his body, but he relaxed and listened to the noises coming from the street below as he held Punk.

About two hours later, John realized that tears were streaming down Punk's face and he was moving restlessly in his sleep. Pulling Punk even tighter against him, so they were chest to chest, John placed his head on top of Punk's and began making soothing noises, hoping to pull him out of his bad dream.

This didn't work, however, and Punk's tears increased to whimpers in his sleep. John started rubbing his back, but Punk's distress only intensified.

"Punk, it's just a dream. You need to wake up." John's voice was concerned. He was contemplating entering Punk's dream, when he finally emerged.

It took Punk only seconds to realize that John was holding him and then he started sobbing even harder. Punk wrapped his arms tightly around John, not wanting him to be torn from his grasp.

"Shh, it's okay, Punk. It was just a dream. Do you want to talk about it?"

John heard Punk start talking and he had to listen very carefully to make out what he was saying because he was crying so hard. "He took you away from me! Said I didn't love you and I couldn't save you. I love you so much, John. He was lying."

John was taken by surprise when Punk said he loved him. He didn't think Punk loved him because he had known about him for so little time. He recovered from his shock quickly so he could comfort Punk.

"I love you too, Punk. Go back to sleep and I'll find you so we can talk more. I know you are exhausted." John continued to rub Punk's back in soothing circles and slowly, his sobs lessened to sniffles and then he fell back asleep.

John placed one of his hands between them and reached into Punk's pajama pants so he could enter his dream.

Punk had just given him the gift of hope. Hope that he could get his body back so he could live a normal life and maybe get to meet his niece for real.


	11. Chapter 11

John found himself in the same park he always did when he entered Punk's dreams. Fortunately, he didn't have to look that hard to find Punk. He was sitting Indian style beside the pond in the center of the park. John could tell that he was still distressed because Punk was rocking himself back and forth.

What did he dream about that made him so upset? John was concerned about how shattered Punk had been by that dream. He had latched onto him like he was going to leave him forever in a second. John would never leave Punk. Not if he had a choice in the matter.

John walked up behind Punk and sat down. He wrapped his arms tightly around him to stop him from rocking back and forth. Pulling Punk between his spread legs, John felt the tremors running through Punk's body. What had happened to him?

Wanting to be closer to John to reassure himself that he was there, Punk turned around in between John's legs so he was facing him and pushed him back so they were lying down. Punk placed his head of John's chest and listened to his heartbeat. He was a little surprised that he had one, but at the same time, it made sense. Feeling John rubbing comforting circles on his back, Punk fisted his hands in John's t-shirt and then looked up into his face.

He saw a very concerned look on John's face. Punk knew that he must seem very weak to John at this point because he was shaking and had latched onto him like a child who had just seen the boogeyman. It kind of ate at his pride a little, but the dream that Punk had experienced was his worst nightmare and it had seemed so real.

"Are you ready to tell me what happened?" John asked in a soft, soothing voice.

Punk didn't really want to because he didn't want John to know that he had let him down in the dream and had lost him. He also didn't want John to think that he didn't really love him. Punk loved John more than he thought he could ever love someone else. Punk decided that he should tell John about his dream.

While Punk told him the events that occurred in his dream, John continued to rub soothing circles around Punk's back and occasionally ran his fingers through Punk's hair. While these actions might have caused him to seem calm on the outside, on the inside, he was furious. He wasn't for sure if Undertaker had actually invaded Punk's dream, but just the chance that he had caused Punk so much emotional and physical agony, made John's blood boil.

By the time Punk ended his story, he was sobbing uncontrollably and John couldn't get him to calm down. "Shh, it's okay. It was just a bad dream. I'm still here and nothing is going to happen to me. I haven't seen the Undertaker since he put the spell on me." John was at a loss for what to do when Punk's sobs only increased after he said this. He was going to get sick or pass out if he didn't calm down soon.

Feeling like he had no other choice, John dragged Punk further up his body so he was face to face with him and then crushed Punk's lips with his. He put all of his emotions into the kiss. His strong love for Punk, the helplessness he was feeling for being unable to calm Punk down, and his fear. These emotions made the kiss harsh, but it served its purpose and Punk stopped crying.

John felt Punk respond and deepen the kiss. Wanting to feel Punk even closer to him, John buried both his hands in Punk's hair and drew his head closer to his. Punk wrapped his arms around John's waist and pulled their body's closer together.

John slipped his tongue out of his mouth and worked on prying Punk's lips open with it. Punk almost immediately opened his mouth and let John explore it. Feeling that it was his turn, Punk pushed John's tongue back into his mouth with his own tongue and then explored John's mouth.

John broke the kiss with a moan and then traveled down to kiss Punk's jaw and neck. Even more blood rushed down to Punk groin and he moaned at the sensation. Moving his legs to straddle John's hips, Punk rolled his into John's hardness. This made John stop his worship of Punk's neck just long enough for him to let out a moan.

Taking control, John rolled them both over so he was on top and then he worked his way down Punk's luscious body. Punk wasn't wearing a shirt in this dream, only a pair of loose basketball shorts and John was thankful. He moved down to Punk's chest leaving a trail of kisses in his wake.

Punk arched his back when John's hot mouth descended on one of his nipples and began to suck and bite it. Tugging the nipple with his front teeth and then releasing it, John moved over to Punk's other nipple and gave it the same treatment.

The feeling was incredible to Punk and he kept arching his back from the pleasure. When he did so, his straining erection rubbed against John's hard, rippling abs, creating a mind blowing sensation.

John felt Punk thrusting up into his stomach and loved the way it felt. Moving back up Punk's body, John initiated another harsh kiss before moving his hand to Punk's shorts. John swallowed Punk's moan when he pulled his shorts down and wrapped his hot, calloused hand around Punk's dripping cock. Punk turned his head sharply to break the kiss so he could breathe. He had never felt so amazing his is life.

"Fuck, John. It feels so good!" Punk all but moaned into John's ear. He thrust up into John's hand in rhythm with him. Punk sucked John's earlobe into his mouth and bit down on it. He then licked it to sooth the pain he had caused. John thrust his hips into Punk thigh at this sensation.

"John, I want to feel you against me." Feeling Punk's hot pants against his ear made John moan.

Wanting to oblige him, John moved so that his hips were flush with Punk's and then he pulled down his own basketball shorts to remove his cock from their confines.

Punk mewed in pleasure when his felt John's hardness brush up against his own, creating the most delicious friction. He threw back his head and screamed when John grasp both of their cocks in the same hand and started rubbing them both with a tight grip.

John's hot pants were falling on Punk's neck. Feeling completely lost in pleasure, Punk bit down on the tendon that connected his neck to his shoulder and didn't let go. John moaned against Punk's ear and quickened his pace.

Punk was starting to feel the tightening of his stomach muscles and the tingling sensation along his spine, signaling his impending orgasm. "Oh God, John! I'm gonna come. Please come with me."

"Mmm, Fuck! I wish I could, but I can't. Just come and that will be enough for me." John moaned into Punk's ear.

Hearing this, Punk fought against his climax because he didn't want to come without John, but John coaxed it out of him by tightening his grip on them both and biting down on Punk's clavicle.

Punk crashed over the edge, painting his own and John's stomach with his seed. His body twitched from the force of his orgasm and he couldn't form a coherent thought in his mind.

Even after Punk's climax, John continued to rub both of their cocks until Punk was completely soft. Punk was so sensitive that this was almost painful, but he still enjoyed what John was doing to him.

After Punk's body stopped twitching, John rolled from on top of him and onto the grass. He pulled Punk into a spoon and then started running his hand up and down Punk's stomach, spreading his cum all over his abs.

Punk should have been grossed out by this, but he was so sated, he didn't really care.

They laid in the grass like that for a while, just enjoying being able to be together. Punk finally broke the silence. "What's your last name?"

John removed his face from Punk's hair, which he had been enjoying the scent of to answer him. "I can't tell you. It's part of the spell that I can't tell you my full name."

Punk frowned at this information. "But how am I supposed to save you if I don't know your last name?"

"You just have to figure it out. You've been told my last name before."

"I have? When?"

John caressed Punk's upper thigh with his hand which was underneath his shorts. "Erin told you when you first moved in."

John's touch was very distracting, but he managed to focus on the conversation. "She did? I don't remember. I'll have to ask her in the morning." Punk closed his eyes and let himself fully enjoy what John was doing. He wasn't worried now that he knew how to learn John's full name. There was no doubt in his mind that he could break John's spell. He loved him so much.

"So she forgave you then? I told you the ice cream would work" John's chest vibrated with his laughter against Punk's back.

"Yea, she did, but she probably would have forgiven me without the ice cream, John boy." Punk smirked.

The conversation stopped for a while. They just basked in the sun in each other's arms, enjoying being together. Punk felt overwhelmed by the love he felt for John and it just bubbled over.

"I love you." Punk said bluntly

John nuzzled the back of Punk's neck. His heart felt like it could explode from hearing those words from Punk. "I love you too, Punk. More than you'll ever know."

They stayed like that for the rest of Punk's dream, revelling in their love for each other.

*Reality*

Punk woke up to his alarm going off. Quickly slapping the snooze button to turn of the offending noise, Punk settled back into John's invisible embrace. He could feel John's hot breath against his neck. The peace only lasted for a few minutes before John made him get up.

"You better get up soon. You'll need to shower after what we did in your dream before you head into work."

At John's words, Punk realized that his pajama pants were cold and wet from him coming in his dream. He cringed at the unpleasant feeling. Groaning, he removed himself from John's arms and got off the bed and headed for the bathroom to shower.

He showered as quickly as he could because he was already running late for work. He was surprised that he didn't feel John watching him while he showered.

After his shower, he walked back into his bedroom wearing only a towel so he could get dressed. He felt John's presence in the room and he asked a question that had popped into his head while he was showering.

"Where were you last night?"

There was a long pause before John answered him. "I saw one of my brothers last night and followed him home. It was like walking into another life. I've realized how much I have missed in just two short years. I discovered that I have a niece and I watched her play until she went to bed and then I came back to you."

Punk could hear the sadness in his voice and he felt his heart shatter. He could see how much John loved his family and he knew it must be tearing him apart that he didn't have a place in their lives anymore. Punk knew that he could change that, though. He just had to figure out John's last name. "Are you going to go see your family again today?"

"I don't know. I probably will if you don't need me today."

Punk felt touched that John cared that much about him, but he needed some time away from John so he could figure this whole situation out. He was so close to being able to save him. He just needed a little more time. "If you want to go see your family, I'm not going to stop you from doing that. I don't think I have to worry about Randy anymore." Punk smiled teasingly at his last comment.

John laughed at Punk's comment as well. "Yea, he'll be lucky if he doesn't end up in a mental institution because of what I did to him. People find it pretty unnerving when they are attacked by something they can't see."

Pulling his usual black V-neck t-shirt over his head, Punk snorted. He looked over at the clock beside his bed and realized he had to be leaving for work very soon. "Shit, I need to leave for work. You leaving with me or are you staying here for a little while?"

"I'll head out with you."

Punk walked into his living room and then grabbed a Lara bar from his kitchen so he had something to eat for breakfast on his way to work. Picking up his coat, wallet, and keys, Punk made for the door and opened it, letting John pass through before he closed and locked the door behind them.

As Punk was walking down the stairs, he heard Erin's apartment door open and then close. He turned around and saw her walking down the stairs, not really paying attention. He felt John squeeze his hand and then release it, meaning that he was leaving to go to his family so Punk could talk to Erin. Punk nodded faintly and then turned around on the stairs. "Hey, what's up?

Erin looked up with a startled look on her face. She had been rifling through her bag obviously trying to find something. "Oh, hey Punk. Nothing much really. Just looking for my sunglasses but it seems that my purse has turned into a black hole and they have been consumed." Erin laughed lightly and walked down the stairs with Punk.

Punk chuckled to himself as he opened the door of their apartment building for Erin. Upon reaching the sidewalk, Punk had finally mustered enough courage to ask Erin about John's last name. "So, you know the guy that you told me about that supposedly haunts my apartment?"

Erin looked up at Punk with a puzzled look on her face. "Yes, why?"

Punk felt his heart start to race. He was so close to finding out what John's last name was. "Do you remember what his name was?"

Erin bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Umm, I only know what his last name was, but I'm not for sure if that's his true last name or not. You know how distorted stories can get with gossip. I think his last name was Cena, but I'd have to do some research."

Punk felt a sigh of relief that she remembered. "That's okay. You don't have to research it. I can do it myself."

Erin smiled at Punk. "Okay, but if you need help with anything, just yell. I hate to run, but I gotta get going. I'll see you later." With that she waved bye to Punk and walked away.

As Punk walked to his car, he had a lot on his mind. He knew that he was going to have to make sure that John's full name was John Cena because Erin was right that his real name may have been lost in the progression of the rumor. He wasn't going to be able to do anything about it until after work, so Punk did his best to shove the problem to the back of his mind.

After he got to work, Punk was inundated with clients, so he didn't have time to think about verifying John's full name until he had locked the shop up for the night.

He couldn't wait until he got home to research, so he got on the computer at the front disk that he usually only used for billing and scheduling, but it did have internet access.

At first, Punk tried to search the real estate records to see if John's name was on the deed of the apartment when he had owned it, but he found out that the records were not online and the office where he had to go and look at them had already closed for the day. What kind of hours were 10am to 3pm Monday through Friday? What working person would be able to make those without having to take time off at work?

Next, Punk did a search for a John Cena in the Chicago area and he hit the jackpot. There were business records for the gym he had owned, the address he lived at, which was Punk's own apartment, and a few pictures of him. He looked exactly like John did in his dreams. There was no doubt in his mind that John's full name was John Cena. He was going to get John's body back tonight if it was the last thing he did.

Exiting the shop and locking up behind him, Punk rushed to his car and drove back to his apartment. He prayed that John would be there when he got back so he could go through with this as soon as possible. He didn't want to have to think about if this was a good idea or not or have time to doubt that he could save John.

When he arrived at his apartment building, he run up the stairs, taking them two at a time. His hands were shaking as he tried to unlock the front door, but after a few tries, he managed to open it.

John was here. He could feel him. Punk walked deeper into the apartment, tossing his leather jacket over the back of the couch and then walking back into his bedroom. As soon as he entered, he felt strong arms encircle his waist from behind and John bury his head in his neck.

"I missed you today, Punk." John said as he slipped one of his hands beneath Punk's t-shirt and caressed his stomach.

Punk laid his head back against John's shoulder and placed one of his hands on top of John's. It was the moment of truth and he hesitated before saying the words that would change his life forever. He didn't know if the change would be good or bad, but he would fight tooth and nail for the good.

Punk turned around in John's arms so he was facing him. He couldn't see him, but it didn't really matter. Punk wrapped his arms tightly around John's abdomen and rested his head against John's neck, letting his hot, fast breath fall across it.

"I love you, John Cena."

Punk felt John's presence immediately leave his arms. Before he could even begin to worry, his world tilted and went completely dark.


	12. Chapter 12

It was dark and Punk felt like he was being squeezed and pulled through a tube. It was a very unpleasant feeling, but the focus of his thoughts was what had happened to John. He remembered when John had told him that by saying his full name, Punk would be taken to his body to break the spell, but he didn't know where John was or what happened to him.

Had he made a huge mistake and lost him forever? Just the thought of that possibility made Punk's throat and eyes burn with tears. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye.

Punk was ripped from his thoughts when the tunnel felt like it opened and he fell onto a cold and unforgiving stone floor. Pain bloomed from his shoulder, which he had landed on, and traveled throughout his body. Grabbing his shoulder to try and quell the pain, Punk took in his surroundings.

The place that he had been taken to was very dark and he could see very little of the room he was in. It smelled musty and his nose itched from the dust that was floating in the air.

Suddenly, light burst into the room and Punk had to shield his eyes from the sudden brightness. An evil laugh pierced the silence and Punk removed his arm from his eyes so he could find the source of the bone- chilling sound. The Undertaker was standing mere feet away from him holding a blazing torch and smiling evilly. "Well, well, little one. I see you finally found it in your heart to learn his full name, but do you love him enough to save him?

Even in such a terrifying situation, Punk felt anger boil up inside him like a volcano. "Where is he? You tricked us, didn't you? You took him from me even though I did what I was supposed to. You fucking bastard!" Punk lunged for him and punched him square across the jaw, making the Undertaker stumble from the force of the hit.

He quickly recovered and grabbed Punk around the neck and slammed him against the stone wall. Punk's toes barely touched the ground beneath him as he struggled to breathe. He starting scratching at The Undertaker's hand, but his grip did not loosen on Punk's wind pipe.

"You're a fucking little bitch, aren't you, Punk? I should kill you right now for hitting me, but I still have to let you fail at saving John and mark my words, little one, you will fail." Undertaker hissed into Punk's ear and then released him. Punk fell to the ground in a heap, gasping for air. He heard Undertaker snap his fingers and then John's body appeared on the ground in front of him.

Nothing else mattered to Punk at this point. He crawled over to John's side and grabbed onto him and started to shake him, hoping to wake him. "You really think I would make it so easy for you, little one? I put his soul back in his body, but he is still under my spell. You have one hour to get him out of this cemetery or he'll be lost forever." With that, Undertaker disappeared, leaving Punk in the darkness again.

Not wanting to waste a moment, Punk sprang into action. He needed to get out of this room first. He noticed small beams of light that were shining through cracks in some boards. Kicking the boards out, Punk opened a doorway to the outside. Heart racing, Punk went back to John and struggled to pick him up off the floor. Punk knew that the only reason he was able to lift him into a fireman's carry was because he had adrenaline coursing through his veins

Just after taking a few steps with John over his shoulders, Punk felt like he was going to collapse under the weight. He knew that John probably had thirty to forty pounds on him, but he pushed all thoughts out of his head and focused on getting John out of here.

His heart sank and he felt the need to burst into frustrated and desperate tears when he stepped into the moonlight and saw how large the cemetery was. The full moon cast enough light over the cemetery for Punk to see the iron gate at the entrance. It was probably at least a quarter mile away. Under normal circumstances, that would have been an easy distance, but with John on his shoulders, Punk didn't know if he could make that distance in time. He would try his damnedest, though.

Punk set his teeth and tightened his hold on John's leg and arm before continuing on. He staggered under his weight and his legs threatened to give out from under him, but he forced himself onward. About half way through the cemetery, Punk could no longer stop the inevitable and his legs collapsed underneath him and John. He tried to place John down a gently as he could, but his muscles were so weak and shaking so much that John hit the ground pretty hard. Punk buried his head in his hands and swallowed around the painful lump in his throat.

He looked at John who was lying in front of him. He had a peaceful look on his face, like he had no idea what was going on around him. Punk blinked against the tears that were stinging his eyes. He couldn't do this. He would never be able to make it out of the cemetery in time and John would be lost to him forever and John would never get to be with his family again. "God! I'm such a failure!" Punk thought to himself.

Punk was pulled from his misery when he heard the Undertaker's bone-chilling laugh again. "Giving up already, little one? You love him even less than I thought you did. What a selfish little bitch you are!" Undertaker laughed again and woke something up inside of Punk.

Newly found strength poured into Punk as anger and determination flooded through his body. He grabbed John and placed him over his shoulders again before standing up. Punk turned to face Undertaker and sneered at him. "I haven't given up yet. I love him enough to do this and then you will leave us alone for the rest of our lives." Punk turned away and then started walking toward the gate again. This time much faster than he had been before.

"Whatever you say, little one. You will fail." And he disappeared again.

Punk didn't think or let what he was feeling weaken his resolve. He focused on his love for John and didn't move his gaze from the gate. It was getting closer and closer. Punk was getting closer and closer to a normal life with John.

In the last few hundred feet, Punk's body began to revolt against him in fatigue. The muscles in his legs were screaming in pain, both from being pulled and the buildup of lactic acid. His legs were literally shivering underneath him, but he knew that if he collapsed at this point, he would never be able to get up. Punk retreated inside his mind and ignored the signals his body was sending him. They were so close.

Punk's heart was pounding painfully hard in his chest under the pressure. Each beat rang in his ears loudly. His lungs were burning and he tasted blood in his mouth. "Come on body. Don't give up on me now. I'm so close. I just need a little longer and then I promise I won't move for a week." Punk pleaded with his body in his mind.

Completely shutting down, Punk traveled the last few feet and then passed through the gate and collapsed onto the sidewalk that was outside the cemetery. He had done it. He had made it in an hour and he had saved John. He moved and laid on top of John who was lying on his back where Punk had dropped him. He listened to John's heartbeat and felt like he was going to fall asleep. Before he could though, he saw Undertaker's feet appear in front of him.

Looking up at him with tired and defeated eyes, Punk regarded Undertaker. He had an angry frown on his face.

"Well, I guess I underestimated you, little one. You won. He's yours now." Undertaker snapped his fingers again and disappeared. Relieved, Punk laid his head on John's chest again to rest. He was so tired and in so much pain. His whole body hurt and it was threatening to shut down on him at any moment. Punk knew that he had to move them off the sidewalk, but he just wanted to rest a few minutes before he moved again. He was disturbed when John moved underneath him.

Surprised, Punk opened his eyes and looked up at John's face. He was lost in John's beautiful blue eyes that were staring into his own in disbelief. Punk smiled and said "Hi," in a very tired, weak voice.

John gathered Punk's limp body in his arms and buried his face in Punk's sweaty hair. His eyes were burning with happy tears. He had his life back and it was better than it had been before. He had Punk in his life now and he was never letting him go. John placed a finger under Punk's chin and lifted his face so he could look in his eyes. As a lone tear escaped down his face, he voiced what he was feeling. "Thank you. I love you, Punk." He voice was husky with emotion.

Punk smiled at John again, but before he could return his love, he passed out from the fatigue.

John held Punk's motionless figure in shock. How had Punk been able to carry him that far in an hour? He weighed more than Punk did and he didn't work out as much as John did when he had his body. John promised himself that he would spend the rest of his life thanking Punk for what he had done.

John sat up with Punk in his lap and buried his face in his neck. He was trying to hold onto the emotions that were threatening to break out. They were warring with each other. He felt happiness and relief that he was finally free again, worry for Punk's condition, and anger at the Undertaker for putting Punk through that. He couldn't hold them back anymore and they tumbled from him in the form of tears and sobs. He held Punk's limp form close to his body and rocked back and forth. He cried until the sky turned a rosy color, signaling the coming sunrise, then John picked Punk up in his arms and started walking back to their apartment.

The cemetery actually wasn't far from the apartment and in about a half an hour; John opened the door to their apartment and then closed it behind him.

He shouldn't have been tired after being in a suspended state for so long, but carrying Punk and his emotions had taken a toll on him. He laid Punk down on the bed and then settled down beside him, pulling him tightly into a spoon and quickly falling asleep.

*HD*

Punk woke up to bright light falling in his eyes. Had he forgotten to close the blinds last night? Punk didn't want to move from where he was lying. He was so warm and comfortable and settled further into his pillow to block the light. That's when it all came rushing back to him. His eyes popped open and he sat up quickly. There was a groan from beside him and he looked over and saw John laying there. His racing heart immediately slowed down and his face melted.

He watched as one of John's eyelids opened to reveal on of his ocean blue eyes. John closed his eye and grabbed blindly for Punk and made him lie down with him again. "Go back to sleep, Punk. You need to rest after what you had to go through."

Punk wanted to go back to sleep. His body was aching and still fatigued, but he wanted to watch John sleep. He turned in John's arms, who had already fallen back asleep, so he was facing him. John's face was relaxed and peaceful. Punk ran his finger along John's jaw line and traced around the cleft in his chin. He then traveled down to his neck and further down to his bare chest. Punk kicked the blanket off of them both so he could see more of John. He was disappointed that John still had on his cameo shorts on and he was still in his jeans. He was going to have to fix this.

Pushing John onto his back, Punk rolled on top of him and straddled his thighs. He was briefly distracted from his task by John's rippling abs and stopped to caress them for a few minutes. His skin was so soft there.

Moving his explorations further, Punk unbuttoned and unzipped John's shorts and slipped his hand inside of them. He groaned when his hand closed around John's half hard member. Carefully pulling his shorts down with his other hand, Punk revealed John's member to the air and he took in the beautiful sight. John really was beautiful. And large.

Punk's mouth watered at the sight of him and he couldn't stop himself him moving further down John's body until he was at eye level with John's member. Not wasting any time, Punk sucked as much of John as he could into his mouth and started bobbing his head up and down. John let out a strangled moan and opened his eyes and looked down at Punk with blurry, blue eyes. "I thought I told you to go back to sleep?" John said in a teasing, aroused voice.

Punk released John from his mouth with an audible pop. He wrapped his hand around John's saliva covered cock and started jerking him off while he nipped at the base. "Mmm, this was more appealing." Punk said coyly.

John let his head fall back against the headboard and moaned. He was getting close to his orgasm embarrassingly fast, but then again, he hadn't experienced a climax in over two years. Unable to help himself, John buried his hands in Punk's hair and pushed his head further down on his cock. Surprised, Punk gagged once, but then quickly recovered. He wanted John to come so badly. Although John had gotten him off, he had never had the same satisfaction and Punk wanted to see him come completely undone.

John watched as Punk bobbed up and down on his cock. His cheeks would hollow out every so often with the force of him sucking his cock. John's eyes rolled back in his head when he felt Punk's lip ring drag along the underside of his cock in an amazing sensation. He wasn't going to be able to hold back much longer.

Punk took a short break to breath, his hand moving up and down John's cock the entire time. "Are you going to come for me soon, John boy? I want to taste you hot cum as it slides down my throat. Can you give me that, please?" Punk engulfed John's member in his mouth again and started humming, sending vibrations of pleasure up John's spine.

That was it. He couldn't hold it anymore. John tightened his hold on Punk's head and forced him all the way down on his cock and let and a long moan before releasing into Punk's waiting mouth. Punk reflexively started swallowing around John's cock, his throat milking every last drop of seed from him.

Completely spent, John relaxed his hold on Punk's head and let his arms fall limply at his sides. He had never felt so amazing in his life.

He felt Punk release him from his mouth and John looked down at him. The sight that met his eyes was something that he would remember for the rest of his life. Punk's lips were swollen and red and were pulled into a satisfied smile. A drop of John's own come rested on Punk's lips ring, just begging to be kissed away. Punk's pink tongue darted out of his mouth and licked it off. "So, did you like that?"

John groaned and pulled Punk up his body so they were face to face. "I think you already know the answer to that." John said before he crushed his lips to Punk's. He could still taste himself on Punk's lips and loved it. Wanting to taste more, John forced Punk's mouth open with his tongue and initiated a battle for dominance in Punk's mouth. He tasted so amazing. It was a mixture of his own come, Punk's unique taste and mint, probably from the gum that Punk always seemed to be chewing.

John wanted Punk. All of him. He flipped them both over so he was on top of Punk and then ended the kiss. Roughly, he divested Punk of his jeans, throwing them somewhere across the room. He presented Punk with two of his fingers and instructed him to suck on them. Once they were wet enough, John moved the fingers down Punk's body to his waiting entrance.

Punk was feeling a little nervous. He had never been with another man this way. He tensed when John's middle finger breached his entrance. He wasn't really in a lot of pain; it just burned being entered for the first time.

John looked up into Punk's eyes and the look on his face confirmed what he had realized as soon as he felt how tight Punk was. "You've never done this before, have you?"

Punk blushed in embarrassment and arousal. "Is it that obvious?"

John kissed his neck to reassure him. "I'm honored that I get to share this with you. Don't be ashamed, I'm just worried that I'll hurt you."

Punk let out a moan when John's finger crocked inside of him and hit his prostrate, sending shocks of pleasure up his spine. "Oh Fuck! I trust you, John. I want more."

Hearing Punk's request, John added another finger and began to scissor his fingers inside of him, hitting his prostrate with each thrust into his body.

Punk writhed in pleasure. He was trying to force more of John's fingers into his body, but John was holding back. He was so frustrated! "Please, John. Fuck me!"

John pulled his fingers from Punk, who moaned at the loss, and moved up his body until his mouth was next to his ear. "I'll never fuck you, Punk. I'm going to make love to you." John grabbed both of Punk's legs and placed them over his shoulders so he had better access to his entrance. Spitting into his hand, John rubbed the saliva on his cock before placing it against Punk's entrance. "This is going to hurt a little. If it gets too much, tell me. I don't want to hurt you." John pushed slowly into Punk's body, feeling the tight sheath surround him.

Punk was struggling to relax and accommodate John's large member. He was burning from being stretched so much, but John being inside of him still felt amazing.

Once John was fully seated inside of Punk, he stopped to allow him to adjust to his size. Punk was so tight around him it was almost painful. John knew that this wasn't going to last very long, but he would make sure that Punk felt just as much pleasure as he did.

John started thrusting slowly and deeply, trying to find Punk's prostrate again. When Punk tensed around him and moaned loudly, he knew he had rediscovered it. Angling his thrusts to hit that spot each time, John increased his pace to punishing thrusts. Punk wrapped his arms around John and nuzzled against his neck, moaning into his ear. "Fuck, John! You feel so good inside me! Harder please!"

John granted his request and started thrusting even faster and harder into Punk's wiling body. Their hips were thrusting together with bruising force, but both men were too far gone to notice the pain

John felt Punk tighten around him and knew that he was getting close. Reaching between their bodies, John wrapped a calloused hand around Punk's weeping member and started rubbing him in time with his thrusts. Punk reacted violently to this stimulation.

"Fuck! I'm coming!" Punk all but wailed before biting down on John's neck. His come exploded out of him and splashed against both men's stomachs.

Punk inner muscles clinched around John, sending him hurdling over the edge of his climax. He thrust deeply into Punk before spilling his seed inside of him.

Punk felt the rush of heat that exploded inside of him when John came and he moaned at the feeling. Punk slipped his legs from John's shoulders and let them rest on either side of him. Soon after he did this, John collapsed on top on him breathing harshly.

"Oh my God! That was amazing, Punk!" John said against Punk's pec.

Punk ran his finger through John's short hair idly. He was so sated that he could hardly form a coherent sentence. "Mmm, yea it was."

John shifted to move his weight off of Punk and pulled out of him at the same time. That's when he noticed the blood on Punk's thighs. His heart dropped completely out of his chest. He looked at Punk with a worried look on his face. He had hurt him.

"You're bleeding, baby. Why didn't you tell me I was hurting you?" John pulled Punk into a spoon and rubbed circles on his stomach.

Punk was confused. It had only hurt a little at first and then he had experienced the most pleasure he had ever felt in his life. Surely he wasn't bleeding. Punk looked down and spread his thighs a little and noticed that there was blood sliding down his thighs. "You didn't hurt me. It's just because I haven't done this before. I assure you that I have never felt so amazing in my life. I love you so much, John."

John rubbed his face into the back of Punk's neck. He was relieved that Punk hadn't felt that much pain. "I love you, too Punk. I need to tell you something."

"What's that?" Punk asked sleepily.

"I knew you before I lost my body. I walked by your shop every day and looked in the window and watched you. I loved you even back then. I had given up hope that I would ever get my life back and then you walked back into my life, bringing hope with you."

Punk was now wide awake and feeling very touched by what John had said. They were meant for each other. Even under such odd circumstances, fate had brought them together. Punk listened as John continued.

"I don't want to lose you again. Philip Brooks, will you marry me?" John held his breath waiting on Punk's answer.

Punk turned around in his arms to face John. He grabbed John's face between his hands and stared into John's beautiful blue eyes, his own green eyes shining with happy tears. "Yes!" Punk said before kissing John passionately.

They kissed for a long time and then stared into each other's eyes. John broke the silence. "I love you," he said beaming a dimpled smile at Punk.

"I love you, too. I have since you were just a ghost creeping through my dreams." Punk wrapped his arms around John and then rested his head against his chest. Both men fell into a peaceful sleep.

*Five Years Later*

John walked into the apartment and closed the door behind him. It was completely silent and he didn't see Punk anywhere. Walking further into the apartment, John discovered him sleeping on the couch with Jack sleeping peacefully on his bare, tattooed chest. Jack was their little miracle

After he and Punk had been married for four years, a new technique of in vitro had been developed especially for gay couples. Sperm cells from both he and Punk had been spliced together and then it was placed into an egg which had had its DNA removed. The egg was then placed in a surrogate and was allowed to grow. Jack was truly both his and John's son, just like if Punk had been impregnated by John. He was only a few weeks old, but he had already become the light of their lives.

John gently placed his hand on Punk's shoulder to wake him up. Punk's green eyes opened and looked up at John blurrily. Punk smiled up at him when it registered who had woken him up. "Hi." Punk said softly.

John nodded a greeting to him before he picked up Jack and cradled him in his arms. He made a small whimper at the movement, but didn't wake up. John walked into his and Punk's bedroom and then over to Jack's crib before gently laying him down in it. He leaned against the crib and watched Jack sleep for a few minutes. No matter how long he looked at him, he still couldn't believe he was theirs. He had his own blue eyes, but had gotten Punk's dark hair. He was so beautiful.

John felt arms wrap around his stomach. "How was work?" Punk said sleepily into his back.

"It was good, but I missed you both." John turned away from the crib and embraced Punk. He initiated a passionate kiss and enjoyed the feeling for a few minutes before Punk broke it.

Moving out of John's arms, Punk moved over to look into the crib. John encircled his waist from behind and kissed his neck. Punk felt so over whelmed with happiness and love. "I'm so happy, John. I never thought I would find such happiness in my life. Before you, I was so unhappy and lonely. I love you."

Punk felt John smile against his neck. "You have made me a very happy man Punk. You saved my life. I love you more than I could ever show you, but I'll try as hard as I can until the day I die."

John and Punk watched Jack sleep, embracing each other and reveling in their happiness.


End file.
